Across the Worlds
by Erik
Summary: The life of Tracy, a young man from the town of Madison, is soon shattered, and he soon realizes that KH might be more real than he thought when he meets with heroes from the fantasy realm. (Shounen-ai)(Canceled)
1. Prologue&Chapter I: Getting to Know Him

**_Author's Notes:_** If shounen-ai scares or disturbs you, go away now. I anticipate a male/male pairing in the future, since there are two gay characters and they'll meet _eventually_.

I apologize if it seems to get off to a slow start. Certain readers can concur with the fact that I have a bad habit of leaving stories unfinished. I hope to break the standard.

If not already known, this is a first _Kingdom Hearts_ story from yours truly. It takes place approximately one month after the end of the game. Riku and Sora returned to Destiny Islands two weeks after the defeat of Ansem, while Goofy, Donald, and King Mickey went back to Disney Castle. The "town" where our new character originates from is actually its own world(think Agrabah and Halloween Town).

I own nothing! Not _Kingdom Hearts_, not _Final Fantasy X_ or _IX_, not even the computer this is being typed on!

Happy reading...

* * *

**_Across the Worlds  
_**By Erik

**Prologue: Observations of a Deviant**

_In one of Squaresoft's latest RPG hits, _Kingdom Hearts_, a major theme is darkness and light as they exist within the human heart. In keeping with the standard human conception, darkness is strongly linked with evil as light is linked to good. For the intents and purposes of this segment and all others following, evil is defined as morally wrong or wicked. Thus, good is morally excellent or virtuous. In _Kingdom Hearts_, good in the form of Sora, Donald, and Goofy battles with evil in the form of classic Disney villains like Maleficent and, most importantly, the Heartless. Though the villains use the powers of darkness for evil desires, the darkness, as well as the light, seems to be an independent force; it is nothing more than a tool. Throughout the game, unless I missed something, I do not recall the darkness itself ever being called evil. I believe this is because the darkness is _not_ evil. Rather, the darkness is a tool, as is light. Good and evil are not based on darkness and light, but they come from the hearts of humans. It is those who use the two powers that are good and evil._

_There is darkness in all hearts. In Ansem's Report 1, it is stated that the smallest drop of darkness can spread and engulf a heart. I agree with this assessment. The nature of darkness is to spread. The same is true of light. The heart is the battlefield of a war between darkness and light. It is the desire and will of the heart that determines the tides of the war and thus the actions of the person. If a hearts longs for darkness, then darkness shall prevail, and vice versa. The will of the heart, however, is not absolute. Like any will, it can be made to bend and give in to the darkness or the light within. The actions and words of others can affect the heart's will, as can the environment in which the person resides._

_Is the light stronger than darkness? The answer is ultimately no. Light cannot truly defeat darkness, and darkness cannot destroy light fully. It is a battle, never-ending and eternal. They are a clashing balance of opposites; one cannot exist without the other. Darkness is not evil. Light is not good. Darkness just is, as light is. It is we humans that make good out of these ingredients. This is one of those simple truths that makes us who and what we are, for without these concepts, we would not be truly human._

**Chapter I: Getting To Know Him**

"Well, it's just like they say," muttered Tracy to the empty living room as he entered. "There is truly nothing like the morning after," he finished with a chuckle, his eyes gazing absently across the room.

It looked just as it always had appeared, though the sunlight that penetrated the curtains made it brighter than Tracy was used to. The door to the dining room was behind him, and the front door that led out into the chilly morning was to his right. Along the door's wall was a large window covered by a tan-tinted curtain. A three-seat couch rested before that window with a tiny table between the front door and its leftmost arm. That table held the telephone, caller ID, and a lamp. Another shorter couch was in the center of the room facing the big screen TV, while the computer was active in the far corner from Tracy. The walls were sporadically decorated with pictures and other ornate objects. Dog toys were around the brown-carpeted floor in certain places, but the three pets themselves were nowhere to be found.

"The morning after," the teenager whispered to himself. Walking further into his living room, his voice grew louder, since he knew there was none to hear him talk to himself. "Like a manic depressant soaring to the highest point before dropping like a meteor to the planet," he compared. "If it weren't for the terrible let-down of being alone after the fact, I'd have more sleep-overs." With that voiced to the nothingness, the young man sighed and sat down on the longer couch, brushing the hair out of his right eye.

Tracy Starlight was a fifteen-year-old boy, though he could hardly be considered normal. Many things about him seemed to be defiant against any established rules, and yet he maintained a level of conformity. Where most would bleach their hair or spike it, Tracy let his grow out and kept it out of his eyes with only a single rubber band on one side, letting the other side hang before his sight constantly. A ten-inch long braid on the back of his head also added to the sense of peculiarity about him. At that moment, his clothes were as casual as ever, consisting of blue corduroy pants, shoes, and a long, white T-shirt with an blue, unbuttoned overshirt. The only strange thing was that the overshirt's right sleeve was torn off from the elbow, but the other sleeve was perfectly undamaged. His golden class ring hung from a ball chain around his neck, a shining aquamarine resting within it. Eyeglasses rested in front of his dark green eyes, which were focused on nothing.

After about two minutes — or was it twenty? — the phone suddenly rang, much to Starlight's surprise. Before he moved over to answer it, he glanced briefly at the clock. _12:42,_ he read to himself. _Who could it be?_

To answer, he checked the caller ID before picking up. Knowing it to be a good friend, he greeted the caller, "Howdy."

"Hey, Tracy," his friend Ashlyn returned, "So, how's it goin'?"

He chuckled, "It doesn't go at all, really."

"Aw, that's too bad. Hey, I heard you had some company last night. Is he still there?"

"He left around ten," he replied, "It kinda got boring shortly thereafter."

"So, has that closet-case come out yet?"

Tracy laughed genuinely at the inquiry. "Who? Me?"

"Not you!" she laughed back at him, "We already know about you! What about Tac!"

He smiled as he thought about the previous night. Though his guest, a friend of his who went by the name Tac, was certainly heterosexual, they did speak of certain things, though Tracy remembered to keep them secret. Though the thought was tempting, a secret was a secret, and Tracy was not one to go back on his word.

"Straight as Star Street," he answered Ashlyn.

"Ah, give it time, Tracy. I'm sure he'll come out sooner or later."

"I wish I shared your confidence," he remarked. "I just don't see whatever it is you see in him. He's a little more tolerant than certain others, but I don't think he's gay. Not by a long shot."

"Ah, well... Suit yourself. Oh, did you hear that school was canceled tomorrow?"

"Yeah. Grandma called earlier. Don't ya just love February weather here in Madison?"

"Hell yeah! Maybe we'll get together tomorrow. No plans, right?"

The teenage boy laughed, "You know me too well."

—————

The light of sunset came quickly that day. The lamp within Tracy Starlight's bedroom was just bright enough to allow him to read the pages of writing he had finished scribing moments before. The boy sat at his desk, the binder containing the recently-finished paragraphs, as well as other pages of writings and observations, opened before him as he read to himself.

_What draws a heart to the darkness? It has been said already that the heart's will, i.e. the mind, determines the amount of darkness or light in a heart. The will bends, causing the balance between dark and light, the balance upon which all emotion and feeling is based, to tip. What feelings are tied to darkness and which to light? Unfortunately, the views of society choose this answer for me: hate, anger, aggression, sadness, and so forth are of the dark, while happiness, love, compassion, and others are light. I loathe this view. It makes the darkness seem evil, and _it is definitely not so._ On second thought, emotions are only as good as the actions associated with them. Anger towards an injustice may lead someone to correct it, while one's love for another could direct one to kill to protect the object of that love. This is it. Light and darkness cause those feelings. Neither the two powers nor the feelings are evil. We humans make them good or evil with the acts motivated by them._

_In trying to answer one question, another arose and was answered. The original question remains: What draws a heart to the darkness? There is a feeling — there may be a number of others — that is on both sides of this spectrum: pleasure. Another such concept is curiosity. These may provide an answer. The light is a force of brightness and illumination; it casts itself and makes things clear. In contrast, darkness hides things and throws the simplest objects into obscurity. This leads to mysteries. "What lies in the darkness?" the people wonder. Once the mystery is solved, though, the pleasure of the search ends. Fortunately for them, the dark is infinite, filled with new experiences. Darkness has a powerful lure that light, in its very nature, lacks. Our own curiosity leads us into the darkness to see what's there, and the pleasure of the experiences lead us further into darkness. For some, however, leaving becomes difficult due to the enticing nature of curiosity's need to be satisfied. Certain individuals who fulfill that need by using the darkness for harmful or unethical desires lose themselves to it. Others, such as a young writer with too much time on his hands, explore this abyss for the mere purpose of gaining knowledge and discovering new things. One thing can truly be said: the darkness is the greatest mystery of all._

"'And that, as they say, is that,'" Tracy finished aloud, though the words weren't written on the paper. Finished, he took a deep breath and stood from the chair in front of his desk, and he began to pace around the dimly-lit room.

"You think anyone would understand?" he asked himself. "No, probably not. What kind of fool spends his night writing about and analyzing the darkness, however badly his writing might turn out?" With a laugh and a shake of his head, he replied, "Me, but that's okay. No one needs to understand. It doesn't really matter if I'm right or wrong. At least I'm thinking. At least I—"

Interrupting his soliloquy, a brief thumping noise emanated from his closet, as if something fell down. His eyes instantly shifted towards the closet door, which was, to his shock, closed. Tracy's eyebrows lowered in thought as he spoke, "I never close the closet door, not unless I'm inside it." A terrible feeling of danger suddenly made itself present within his mind as he stepped towards the door. "What could've...?" Without thinking, he grabbed one of the various non-lethal weapons sitting against the wall next to his closet door. The weapon chosen was his favorite, a four foot-long, one inch-thick wooden rod that looked like it should be in the closet with coats hanging from it instead of in the hands of a fighter. Though the wall over his bed held three real swords, he did not feel the need for something that was truly deadly.

"Let's see what's in there," he whispered, and Tracy opened the closet door to be confronted by—

Nothing.

"What?!" he half-shouted, stepping forward and pulling the single string hanging from the ceiling to turn the light on. Even with the light, he could see nothing that could have caused the sound he heard. He was about to double-check when Starlight suddenly felt a cold chill across his skin from a sudden breeze of icy air that came from above. He grunted quietly as he shivered from the eerie wind, and on instinct, he looked up, nearly collapsing in horror at the sight he spied on his ceiling.

It was a swirling darkness.

"Holy!" he shouted, leaping backwards as far as he could from the closet. The staff was readied instantly, though he couldn't imagine what good it would do, but when something small and black dropped from the vortex, he knew that a wooden rod was better than nothing. The dark mass began to take a morbidly familiar shape, especially for someone with his interests; Tracy could only stand by and watch as the Shadow creature came to being before his very eyes. One solitary word rang through his mind like an alarm, blaring and repeating loud and clear through his being.

_Heartless... Heartless... Heartless..._


	2. Chapter II: Invasions and Investigations

**Chapter II: Invasions and Investigations**

The Shadow's glowing yellow eyes stared into Tracy's, as if it had no idea where it was. If he understood the Heartless enough, he knew what it was thinking, if it could think. _I'm just a "living sample" to that thing,_ he thought fearfully, _Bad, bad, bad, bad!_

Without warning — or was its presence warning enough? — the Heartless pounced towards him, waving its tiny claws wildly at Tracy. The youth was the faster of the two, though, and the wood rod connected with the Shadow's head with a loud bang, sending the creature colliding into Tracy's dresser drawers. It recovered quickly, but Tracy attacked once more, using a low thrust with the staff to send the Heartless rolling back into the closet like a pool ball to the corner pocket.

_Am I even hurting it?_ Starlight wondered briefly.

Stubbornly, the Shadow launched another attack, but Tracy dodged the tackle, bringing their fight into the slightly more open area of the teenager's room. Tracy whirled to face the Heartless foe, and the Shadow did the same to him. A heartbeat passed before it struck again. Tracy pushed the rod forward and hit the Heartless's head, and it fell to the ground. The young boy pressed the advantage, and he jabbed repeatedly into the body of the Shadow with the end of his staff, never allowing it time to recover and strike back. With eleven powerful jabs, it vanished into thin air as a glowing heart rose from where it had been.

Tracy exhaled in short-lived relief before he told himself, "The Heartless are like ants. Where there's one..."

A banging noise coupled with the clanging of metal sounded from outside his bedroom door.

"...there's more," he finished. His mind paired the clanging of metal and Heartless together, and the sum was not something he was happy with. _Soldiers... Or worse..._

The boy moved to the curtain in front of his desk, risking to look outside. His jaw dropped in astonishment when it hit him that the bright white snow that had been on the ground — the snow that caused school to be canceled the next day — was gone without a trace. In its place was green grass, brown dirt, gray concrete, and the dimness of a Sunday twilight with no sign of Heartless, but he knew that could change instantly. Tracy glances momentarily at his phone, pondering over the possibilities.

_Like the police would actually _believe_ me,_ he commented in his thoughts as the banging and the clanging at his door continued, _Who would? Then again, if it's happening here, then it might be happening all over Madison. If that's the case, then this world's pretty much screwed, I'd say... Unless..._

His eyes darted to his PlayStation 2, sitting on the floor in front of his television set. Above the gaming console, his collection of DVD's and minuscule set of two PS2 games(_Kingdom Hearts_ and _Final Fantasy X_) rested on a small shelf.

_The Heartless from _Kingdom Hearts_... If they're real, then that means that—_

The door was finally busted open by the small contingent of Soldier Heartless, and Tracy's thoughts were shattered. Knowing that "Do or die" wasn't the best strategy in this instance, he did the only logical thing. He raced to the other door to his room and ran away. Luckily, the second door led almost directly to the back door of his house, and in less than ten seconds, he was running into his back yard fleeing from an enemy he never dreamed of facing.

—————

Stars blanketed the sky over Traverse Town, covering the town in an eternal night. The starlight was the dominant source of luminescence, since the most of the lampposts in town were dimmed or completely dark altogether, while several of the buildings seemed to have fallen into serious neglect and disrepair. When Ansem was defeated and the worlds destroyed by the Heartless were restored, the majority of Traverse Town's population, which consisted of refugees from those worlds, returned to their former homes and worlds with a few exceptions. With the sudden population decrease, the city's overall environment took a dramatic downward plummet, turning from a bustling municipality to a nearly-deserted town almost overnight. From the general appearance of the three districts to the interiors of buildings themselves, the sudden alteration was chiefly apparent. Traverse Town had seen better days.

Though the mad rampage of the Heartless through the local universal neighborhood was put to a stop, it was a common belief that the Heartless were far from extinct. Some people postulated that the Heartless were biding their time in some distant part of the universe, waiting for the chance to strike again and bring chaos to the world order once again. Then, as if to prove those theories correct, Traverse Town received its first new guest from another world on the same night a distant star was snuffed out of the sky. This black omen was followed a week later by another arrival, and five days after the second arrival, four more arrived from their world. As terrifying as it was, the fact was true.

"The Heartless are back in the game," a young boy said to himself as he walked into the Second District. "They're devastating more worlds now than ever. And just when we thought it was—"

"—safe?" finished the voice of a young man, possibly in his late teens.

The boy screamed in surprise and collapsed to the ground, holding his hands to his head. "Whatever it is," he yelled out, "I didn't do it! _Please_ don't hurt me!"

"Whoa, whoa! Easy there, little fella," the older individual attempted to comfort, "I'm not gonna hurt you!"

The genuine tone of the elder one's voice seemed to calm the child, and he looked around cautiously. When he failed to see the speaker, he asked of the other, "Wh-where a-are you?"

To answer, the mysterious stranger stepped out from a doorway in front of the youth. "I'm not gonna hurt you," he said again, holding his empty hands up to his sides. "I just need some answers."

"Answers?" the boy repeated, keeping his head down and avoiding looking at the young man's face. "Like wh-what?"

"Well, for starters, what are these Heartless things?"

"You don't even know _that?_" scoffed the child as he finally regained his courage and stood up before the stranger and examined him. "Who _are_ you?"

He was obviously a new arrival, but the young one had never seen a man with a tail before. The newcomer's dark blonde hair came down in nearly every direction, but his face was kept clearly visible. His green eyes were looking at the boy with a child-like innocence which showed that he truly meant no harm. In addition to his light-colored tail, his garments were also peculiar. He wore a blue vest over a white shirt without sleeves. His hands were covered by gray gloves with large, azure arm bands. His pants were equally blue with a light tan belt around his waist, which held holsters for twin daggers, and he wore white boots. Though the man himself seemed in good health, his clothes bore several tears and scars, mostly small cuts and scrapes.

The man responded to the kid's question, "Me? I'm... a little new around here."

—————

The twilight provided enough sunlight to allow Tracy to flee without fear of tripping or slipping, and he swiftly made his way to the grass hills beyond the limits of his back yard. In the summertime, he walked through the hills often, since it was the fastest route between his house and the local mall. Bushes and trees formed the outskirts of a privately-owned forest to his right, while he could already spot an abandoned tennis court that topped a tall and distant hill. Between Starlight and that court, a small valley operated as an old relaxation spot for Tracy, where he went on many occasions to unwind and think. A fence stood between him and the valley, but it had been flattened in two spots by natural forces, allowing passage to those who knew of them.

He slowed his pace as he came to the downhill incline, and he turned to the right, leading to a wide, grassy path. In the middle of the path was a seemingly-random assortment in the shape of a short, wide, rectangular box. Bricks made up the corners of it, the outer layers were simple sheets of old, rusted metal of unknown origins, and rocks and pebbles were scattered around it. It was about three meters long, two meters wide, and came up to Starlight's knee. Tracy had known of its existence ever since he found the path, but he never knew who made it or for what purpose, but when he saw a strange blue light emanating from the various cracks and holes in the metal, the boy decided that it was worth a closer look.

First giving the vicinity a thorough scan for Heartless, Tracy approached the container cautiously, keeping a firm grip on his weapon and wishing in hindsight that he'd chosen to use one of the swords on his wall. Looking the metal over for a moment, he found a place where it could be easily lifted, and inhaling like it was his last breath, he did so and peered within. The sight beneath triggered the primitive-but-effective fight-or-flight response when it fully registered in his mind.

It was the outline of a large keyhole, shining pale blue within its hiding place.

He dropped the metal sheet back down and took several steps away from the Keyhole, managing to remain balanced and not tumble downhill. "Keyhole," he whispered, and it struck him instantly. _The Heartless are drawn to the Keyhole. They sense its presence, and if they find it, then... Then we're as good as dead._ Staff brought ready, he looked around again, but there were still no Heartless foes in sight. "'To stay is death. To go is death,'" he quoted to himself aloud.

As if fate itself were cursing young Tracy Starlight, the shining cerulean light of the Keyhole transformed itself into a starlet glow, and the sky dimmed instantly into the blackness of night, and only the crimson Keyhole gave Tracy light. It was then that he felt them, the Heartless, circling around him like undead, unseen, unheard specters. The cold chill of Madison night overtook Tracy, adding itself to the despairing environment. _They're here,_ he told himself, but even as he tried to bring his pathetic rod to bear, Tracy knew that it was a futile gesture, born from the mind of a desperate child yearning to live and breathe on, but even in the face of the overwhelming darkness, he couldn't surrender, roll over to die alone in that way. The air around him grew more frigid with every moment that passed, and the pallid yellow dots of Heartless eyes became visible. Even with this sight and the Keyhole's glow, it was fighting with a blindfold, something that Tracy hadn't practiced at. Trying, attempting, striving, he lashed out at the dark creatures, but the staff felt only air. For minutes, hours, days, it seemed to go on in his mind until the unthinkable happened.

The light of Madison's Keyhole went out.


	3. Chapter III: Lingering

**Chapter III: Lingering**

The darkened tides of a vast ocean collided gently against the sands of a broken beach. Where it met the sea, the land was cracked as if it were dry, even though it seemed impossible. A shattered wooden dock was further inland, showing that the beach was not always as vast as it was then. Beyond the beach, it was truly a scene from a nightmare. Plants of various shapes and sizes, spawned from the darkness that had consumed the world, were scattered around, overgrowing and devouring the island. Black, gray, violet, and other dark hues dominated, sucking the light and life from everything it touched until only the beach was left. Even that sanctuary of bright sand wasn't immune to the spreading darkness. Soon, that shore would be enshrouded in the dark.

They knew that well as they stood together on the shore, gazing into the ocean of the dark. Two minds, two souls, two hearts were joined within one body. The silver-haired boy, though the original owner of the body they resided in, was a prisoner, a heart enslaved and captive inside his own shell. At the mercy of another, immensely powerful and dark heart, the boy fought on in vain to free himself from himself.

Then he came, the youthful friend that was both his greatest rival and his greatest love. _Sora,_ the restrained Riku called out within his imprisoned heart, _End this. End it now._

Finally, words came from the boy's mouth, but though they sounded from his lips, the voice was not his own. It was the voice of his captor, his puppet master, that told Sora, "Take a look at this tiny place. To the heart seeking freedom, this island is a prison surrounded by water."

_I still seek freedom. Now, more than _ever_, I want out, but I... I can't escape from this prison. Not alone..._

"And so this boy sought out to escape from his prison."

_I've done so much, so many things wrong. Trapped inside myself, being used for the desires and schemes of this demented lunatic — this is my just reward, my penance._

"He sought a way to cross over into other worlds."

_There was a bit of fun in it — in the journey — at first. After all, we _did_ finally get off this island, but I never thought — I never even _dared_ to dream — that things could turn out this way. I can't even begin to forgive myself... After all, it _is_ my own fault._

"And he opened his heart to darkness."

_I deserve this... Sora, end it for me. Please..._

The boy turned to face his childhood ally at last, but in the space of a few seconds, Riku's face, his hair, his eyes, his whole being was replaced with that of a stranger of the darkness. Before his heart descended into the very darkness that he had so willingly opened it to, he heard a voice, Sora's voice, calling out to him.

"_Riku!_"

—————

"_Sora!_"

Stirred into action by his own nightmares, Riku's body convulsed in shock, and he sat up in his familiar bed, yet he felt strange finally being in his own bed after the adventure through the worlds he had seen. The lights in his room were inactive, and the only illumination came from the nearby window as the stars and moon cast their glow from the heavens. Riku soon arose from his bed, clad only in boxer briefs as he walked to the window. As he took those steps, Riku soon realized that he was almost dripping in sweat. Bringing his cool hands to his equally cool forehead, he tried to wipe away the chilled sweat, only to realize that the cold sweat covered his whole body. When he reached the window, he opened it and let the night's gentle breeze enter his room and surround him. As the wind met his sweat-covered skin, Riku shut his eyes and—

"_—he opened his heart to darkness._"

Instantly, Riku's eyes flashed open, and the fifteen-year-old whirled around, almost expecting to spot the sinister Ansem, the villain that had taken his heart and body from him, standing in his room, but when no such sight presented itself, the youth turned back to the window and closed it swiftly. Even after the window was sealed, the cold air that Riku had invited into his room stayed and lingered on like the foul stench from rotten flesh, and he felt it surround him once more. Now far more conscious of himself and the icy atmosphere, he reached down next to his bed and donned a pair of pants before putting on a random T-shirt. He then found his socks and shoes and slipped them on before looking at the table next to his bed. Against it, the Wing Edge, the blade that had helped him survive after being thrown away from Destiny Islands what felt like years ago, was propped readily. Next to it, like someone's twisted idea of a joke, was the weapon of another time, a toy sword nearly identical to Sora's. He took both of them with him as he reopened the window and leapt from his room to the ground below.

—————

_Sora came for me,_ Riku thought as he climbed onto the dock from his rowboat. _Or did he come to destroy Ansem? Or were both of those on his mind?_

His eyes glanced across the island, entirely unchanged in his absence. Paying no heed to the other two boats also docked there, Riku picked up the Wing Edge and the toy sword from the boat and started walking, not caring where he ended up.

_Even so, it's thanks to Sora that Mickey and I were able to escape from Kingdom Hearts,_ Riku reasoned. _Still, I know that he'll never feel the way I feel for him. Kairi's the apple of his eye, and it's not my place to interfere with them, since whatever powers run the universe know I've tried. I just wish I'd learned that sooner before I... went off the deep end._

He looked to the beach, blanketed in night, and a memorable night entered to Riku's mind. _This reminds me of the night of the storm, the night the Heartless came._ He then gazed to the small but memory-filled island across the plank bridge where he sparred with Sora so long ago, the place where Riku held out his hand for Sora that fated night. _Man, I've lost count of how many times we competed like that. The fights, the races... He's a good rival, that's for sure. He always accepted defeat gracefully, unless..._

The teen's thoughts flashed back to the rising falls at Hollow Bastion, where he seized the Keyblade from Sora. With only a simple toy sword and the Beast, the dogged Sora fought his way to the castle's entrance. Weaponless but sanguine, he was still willing to fight against Riku. _I see why I lost,_ admitted Riku to himself, _His will was strong, his heart was determined, his friend stayed with him, even defying their king's orders. Did I ever stand a chance?_

Riku's ambling came to an abrupt halt when he noticed where he had led himself. Before him, overgrown plants and leaves surrounded the entryway to the secret place, and Riku could barely hear the pair of voices resonating from inside as well as see the glow of campfire light from inside the cavern. _Sora and Kairi,_ he identified them. At that moment, he was divided by his urge to eavesdrop, his wish to join them like old times, and his desire to avoid the couple altogether. The last choice proved to be the ultimate one, and he turned around and strolled elsewhere, just as aimless as before.

_Before Kairi arrived,_ Riku told himself prior to leaping onto the roof of the shack to reach the island, _it was just Sora and me. But when she came from who-knows-where... I never got used to the fact that there was someone else with us; the duo was suddenly a trinity. And then we were separated, thrown to other worlds. All he was worried about was Kairi and those two bumbling weirdoes that he carried around with him. I was just an afterthought, tacked on the end when necessary, and I just couldn't stand it._

His feet stepped off the bridge onto the round island as he looked down at his pair of swords. His grip tightened on the handle of the Wing Edge as he held the toy sword over his head, examining the old thing intently. _It's a link to a past that I left in the dust,_ Riku explained, _I don't need this thing anymore._ With that thought in his mind, he tossed the wooden blade high into the air. Riku jumped up as it fell to the ground, bringing his newer weapon to bear. In an elegant, accurate midair attack, he swung the sword and hit the toy, shattering it into dozens of wooden shards. The pieces met the ground a split-second before Riku touched down, landing with his knees bent slightly and his sword ready in his right hand.

"No more games," the teenager finally spoke aloud. Riku glances at the shattered remnants of his old sword before giving his Wing Edge another look. "Not anymore." At last, Riku's eyes went to the shimmering diamonds in the night sky. "There are many worlds," he whispered under his breath, "but they share the same sky — one sky, one destiny."

As his mind wandered through countless thoughts, he nearly ignored a certain, solitary star above him flickering violently like a candle's flame preparing to die out. When he glared at the sparkling star, something inside of him writhed and twisted in agony while another thing seemed to delight in the sight he was seeing. Before Riku's eyes, a star went out.

All but horror-stricken, Riku repeated his words from mere second ago, barely conscious of himself. "One sky, one destiny."

—————

Sitting at a lone table amidst a room filled with books of forgotten lore, the warrior Cloud rested himself, thoughtful and pensive as his chin rested against his folded hands, his elbows on the table before him, and his eyes staring at his bandaged sword, placed on the table. His heart felt the sense of irony in his situation. Before Hollow Bastion was overrun by the Heartless, he was considered by everyone he knew to be "the lively one." His sense of adventure and bright, hopeful outlook on life attracted some of the most interesting people, and he enjoyed the company of every one of those people, even some of the more annoying individuals. Now, he sat alone and defeated, left to himself and the darkness inside of him in a place as lifeless and empty as he himself felt. Even reunited with the friends that he had lost when he was forced from his home did little to ease the emptiness. Cloud closed his eyes as he pondered the matter deeply.

"Cloud?"

The fighter's eyelids arose immediately, displaying his handsome green eyes as they turned to view the caller of his name. Choosing to greet her on his own two feet, Cloud slid the chair back and stood, brushing a few strands of golden hair out of his eyesight as he spoke calmly, "Aerith."

Aerith, wearing the same familiar pink dress as always, gazed into Cloud's eyes with concern. "Is something wrong, Cloud?" she inquired of him. "You seem..."

"Preoccupied," he finished for her.

Timidly, she responded with a nod, "Yes."

Cloud broke eye contact with her, now focusing on the ground as he told Aerith, "There's a lot on my mind."

She took a step towards Cloud, asking him, "Do you want to talk about anything."

The warrior shook his head. "May—"

"Cloud! Aerith!" the powerful voice of Leon cut into their conversation.

Both of them turned their heads to Squall as he ran, hurrying up the staircase to them. "Leon?" they both spoke as he met them.

"We've got trouble," he told them, alarmed. "I just received word form Yuffie."

Cloud spoke coolly, "What's wrong?"

The tone in the other man's voice said far more than the words themselves. Leon looked at the couple before he revealed to them, "She told me that she saw a star go out."


	4. Chapter IV: The Town of Crossing Over

**_Author's Notes:_** There will be minor _Final Fantasy IX_ spoilers later in the chapter if you haven't gotten at least to the beginning to Disc Four.

* * *

**Chapter IV: The Town of Crossing Over**

Comfortable, warm, soft — it was hardly what Tracy was expecting. His eyes fluttered a few times as he rolled over in bed — who's bed was this? It wasn't the familiar cold sheets and numerous blankets he was used to, but it was still quite cozy and welcoming. It was many moments before he regained enough consciousness to realize that he was not in his own bed. The first instinct that came to mind was that he was in a friend's bed, that he had spent the night somewhere else, but when he heard the mumbling of voices from an adjacent room, he knew for certain that he was not in any familiar setting.

"Whoa!" Tracy exclaimed as he darted to a sitting up position, tossing the sheets covering him into disarray. He gave the room around him a thorough examination, noting the shabby, broken-down environment as he climbed out of the bed. The walls were cracked, and the light, coming from a single lamp on the hole-filled ceiling, was dim, possibly about to burn out. Through the darkness and the shadows, he saw a number of pictures on the walls, but he couldn't make them out. The hard, wooden floor was covered with dust and debris, and it creaked quietly under Tracy's weight. He saw only one exit, a door across from the location of his bed, and when the unintelligible voiced in the other room stopped, he prepared himself for visitors.

Despite preparation, nothing in his lifetime, not even the appearance of the Heartless, could have prepared him for the sight that presented itself as the doorway opened. A lone figure stepped inside the room from the passage, and simply by the style of the stranger's hair, his body build, and his monkey-like tail, Starlight identified him instantly. _That... Could that be...?_

"Glad to see you're awake, kid," he said to the dumbfounded youth, "I'm Zidane." He held out a hand as he stepped towards Tracy. "Nice to meet ya."

"Umm..." he uttered momentarily before introducing himself, "Tracy Starlight from the town of Madison. Or rather... I _was_ of Madison."

Their hands met, and the two shared a friendly handshake as a hero from Tracy's fantasies put together, "Your world got destroyed, too, huh?"

So many questions and possibilities flew through Tracy's head, it was becoming more and more difficult to think straight. _Zidane from FFIX... Is he from Hollow Bastion, too, or is he from the Gaia I know? His world was destroyed, too? Where is this place, anyway? Is anyone else here?_

Zidane curiously eyed Tracy before querying, "You okay? We found you out in the street unconscious, so we decided to take you in for the night."

"Street?" Tracy spoke at last, "How long was I...?"

Looking to an inoperable clock, the tail-bearing thief answered, "Anyone's guess, really, but I'd venture to say two hours or so."

_Two hours... Then again, it doesn't really matter how long I've been out._ The displaced teenager turned away from Zidane, looking to the bed he had rested in previously. _Madison's gone like a faded dream, just like so many others._

"Are you okay?" repeated Zidane.

"Hmm? Oh." Starlight finally realized the question that Zidane was asking and formed his shockingly calm reply. "Terrible, really. My town is gone, all my friends are probably dead or turned into Heartless, I'm stuck in—" He paused his list to ask, "Where is this anyway? I don't recognize it."

"This place?" Zidane gestured to the room around him. "Why would you recognize it?"

Stopping himself before he blurted out the truth, at least from his point of view, he told Zidane, "Well, uhmm... Sorry. Just homesick, I guess."

_I guess I shouldn't go around telling people that I learned all about them from games I played before my world went to Hell in a hand basket._

"Well, anyway, this place is called... Ummm..."

"Traverse Town," a child's voice finished for Zidane.

"Thanks," he told the unknown kid.

"No problem, Zidane."

Tracy looked to the doorway, where the voice had come from, but he didn't see anyone. Taking a few steps towards the door, he inquired, "Who was what?"

"The kid?" confirmed Zidane swiftly, "Name's Vivi. He's from my world, Gaia."

_That answers that question._

"Hey, kid!" an older, tougher-sounding voice called from a distance into the other room, "What's for dinner?"

"Whatever it is," he sent back jokingly, "I bet it needs fire to cook, right?"

Zidane chuckled at the small black mage as he turned to his new friend. "Hungry, Tracy? Vivi's cookin' tonight."

Giving it a split-second of thought, he answered, "Well, at this point, I'd even eat with the Heartless! Sure thing!" When he began to exit the room, Tracy suddenly noticed a missing detail. He instantly checked himself over to see if he was dressed as he was when he left Madison. Everything, even his hair and necklace, was just as it was with the exception of a certain, very noticeable item. "Umm, Zidane," he asked, "did I have a rod with me? It'd be four feet long, about an inch thick, made of plain wood."

"That stick you had in your hands?" Zidane confirmed for Tracy, "Yeah, we have it." Zidane's tone changed to that of confusion as he questioned Tracy, "What is it with that stick, anyway? It doesn't have any magic power whatsoever from what Vivi told me, and it's not that strong anyway. Why keep it?"

Tracy chuckled with a smile before telling the thief, "Sentimental value. Besides, any weapon's better than no weapon, right?"

Zidane grinned at the younger kid. "That's a nice way of seeing it."

—————

"Guys," the tiny black mage Vivi gladly announced as he and Zidane, carrying a tray, entered the room from the makeshift kitchen, "Dinner is served."

"Sorry if it's a little burnt, folks," Zidane apologized, "I didn't say 'when' soon enough."

Tracy shook his head and laughed quietly before scanning the other people at the table. He sat at the end of the table, and the two seats on either side of him were vacant, awaiting Zidane and Vivi. The two chairs at the far end were occupied by Freya, a proud Burmecian Dragon Knight, and Amarant, a bounty hunter and uncertain ally of Zidane. Both awaited the meal with differing degrees of eagerness.

As Vivi took his place to the left of Tracy after handing out the silverware, Zidane sat the tray on the table, showing five well-cooked steaks. Though it didn't look as delicious as the steaks his mother used to cook on the grill, the young Starlight realized that he had little choice in the matter. Besides that, he was anxious to finally speak with the people who took him in from the streets of Traverse Town.

The five each picked out their own steaks and began eating as Zidane finally sat down to Tracy's right. "So, kid," he struck up the conversation, "What's that world of yours called again?"

"Madison," he answered Zidane, cutting into the piece of meat slowly. "From what I can tell, there's not much to it, really. Boring as hell, pretty small compared to other cities — not much to do except... Well, I'm not even sure."

Vivi spoke up curiously, "Any friends there?"

"Friends? You bet," he grinned, "Where to start?"

"Girlfriend?" queried Zidane.

Chuckling, he told him as simply as he could, "Nope."

"Hmm... Too bad, I guess."

"Ah, I'm all right," said Tracy, "I had some really great friends, though. Ashlyn, Darian, Tac, Felicity, Kristen, Xander... They're—"

"—gone," Amarant interrupted before stating matter-of-factly, "If they're not in this town, they're probably as good as dead out there."

"Amarant!" Vivi and Zidane both exclaimed.

Freya looked up from her plate to stare at the red-haired thug. "You should show some sympathy. The kid's obviously lost—"

"It's all right, Freya," the child from Madison cut her off. "He _is_ right, after all. If Felicity and the others aren't here, then they're nowhere, and I'll have to accept it."

Zidane couldn't help but give a questioning glare to Tracy. "That's... Well..."

"...surprisingly mature," commented the scarlet-haired Amarant, "And I thought I wasn't gonna like him."

"Amarant," Tracy laughed at him, "I'm more immature than I seem. Take it from me."

"Whatever," he shrugged Tracy off and continued to eat.

"In _any_ case," the youth changed the subject, "What about your world, Zidane? What about Gaia?"

"Oh, Gaia? It's a huge world filled with things that you couldn't imagine!" he pridefully explained. "Or... it _was_."

"The Heartless," Starlight stated more than asked.

"It was a few things," Vivi replied.

"It's hard to explain, Tracy," stated Zidane. "My friends and I were trying to defeat a powerful enemy named Kuja."

_So he's in the picture, too?_

"Shortly before the Heartless arrived, we had unsealed a magical gate that led to another world, Terra. Long story short, we returned to Gaia to find it totally covered with Mist. When we went to the Iifa Tree — it made the Mist on our world — there was this colossal ball of energy above it."

"That's when they first appeared," Vivi entered, "The Heartless came from that ball, _millions_ of them!"

_Well, that's... different..._

"We tried to break into the ball, but the Heartless kept us from laying a finger on it," Zidane went on, "Even with the entire airship fleet of Lindblum backing us up, the _Invincible_, our vessel, took heavy damage, and we had to land just outside the tree."

"Then," Vivi finished their tale, "we saw this weird outlined shape on the trunk of the tree. It looked like a big keyhole. After that, we got separated, and we all ended up here. Well, _almost_ all of us."

"And that's about it," Zidane summed up. "We're in the same boat, looks like."

_Sounds just a bit crazy,_ Tracy thought, _but it looks like Kuja somehow gained control of the Heartless, but if Gaia's gone, then Kuja probably went with it, so it's no use worrying about it._

Without warning, the front door burst open as an unfamiliar boy entered the house. "Zidane! Zidane!" he yelled out, "We found another one!"

"Another one?" Zidane repeated on instinct.

Immediately following the boy, a muscular man in his mid-thirties came in carrying a young teenage girl with long brown hair. She wore simple blue jeans with a dark gray shirt and an equally gray hooded jacket and black shoes. Her build was larger than most, and it appeared that all the muscles of the man were necessary to support her. Around her neck was a black collar and a necklace carrying a few rings. The girl was completely unconscious in the man's arms.

Tracy nearly collapsed when he saw the girl, and a single word left his lips when he recovered from the initial shock. "Felicity?"


	5. Chapter V: Road Revived

**Chapter V: Road Revived**

Through an unusual reversal of fortunes, Tracy sat in a singular chair in the same bedroom that he himself had awoken to not even an hour before. His attention centered on Felicity, another survivor of Madison's demise, he greeted her as she began to stir, "Well, howdy there, li'l lady. Rise an' shine, puddin' cup!"

"Bite me," was her enthusiastic response.

Tracy smirked at his good friend before commenting, without the accent, "I see your spirits are as high as ever."

"Tracy?" asked Felicity as she finally began to regain her senses. "What're you doin' here?"

He looked at the ground briefly before standing up and walking to her. "I could ask you that, too, ya know."

At last, the girl's eyes opened, and she sat up in the bed, looking around the room. "Where's this?"

"Traverse Town," he replied simply.

"Traverse Town?" she laughed as she got to her feet. "What kind of crack are you sniffing? And I guess the Heartless invaded Madison, right?"

"Actually..." he began.

"Exactly," Zidane confirmed for Felicity as he entered the room. "So, you're Felicity, Tracy's friend from Madison?"

Felicity's eyes were wider than the Grand Canyon as she stared with awe and disbelief at the man who just ten seconds ago couldn't have been real to her. "Z-Z-Zi—"

Tracy swiftly and forcibly held her mouth shut with his hands as he told his new friend sincerely, "Uhm, Zidane, listen. Felicity here and I need to exchange words privately, 'kay?"

He raised a brief eyebrow at Tracy before shrugging. "Sure thing, Tracy," he agreed, walking out and closing the door behind him.

Felicity chose that precise moment to break free of Tracy's grip. With all the excitement of twenty toddlers in a toy store, she pointed at the door and whispered loudly, "That's _Zidane!_ Zidane from _Final Fantasy IX_! How in—"

"It's real, Felicity!" he finally told her, "_Everything_ we know about the fantasies are real!"

"So this is really..."

"Traverse Town," he repeated, "Yes, but from what I've seen, it's in shambles. I dunno why yet. The Heartless are real, and they destroyed Madison. I even saw the Keyhole with my own eyes!"

The slightly older girl sat down on the edge of the bed while she tried to absorb the knowledge Tracy was giving to her. "If Madison's destroyed," she risked, "then what about the others? Darian, Ashlyn, Kristen — could they have...?"

Tracy sighed heavily, "I'm not sure. I didn't even know _you_ were alive until some guy brought you here. There's always the possibility, but until we see any of them, we have to assume the worst and go on from here."

"Go on?" she questioned, "Go on how? To where? With what? To do what?"

"Well, honestly, Felicity..." he paused himself, trying to come up with an action.

"Nothing?"

"Pretty much, yeah."

Silence fell upon the room as both Tracy and Felicity were left to their own thoughts. Tracy truly had little idea of where to go on to from there. Aside from the house, he hadn't seen anything else of Traverse Town, but he heard from Zidane that the whole city was in ruin. Besides that, he also knew how little he could do in his position. He was only a fifteen-year-old kid with a wooden stick as a weapon and knowledge of the people and worlds that Sora had—

Sora?

"Here's a thought, Felicity," Tracy Starlight finally voiced knowingly, "We find Sora."

—————

Sitting within the confined space of the secret place, it was easy to get lost in thought. The light of the fire was dimming slowly as it ate away at the burning logs, but there was just enough of a glow to illuminate Kairi's exquisite visage as she slept in her sleeping bag. She was pretty, there was no denying that. Her chestnut brown hair flowed off of her head and over the sides of her face like water down a river, and Sora imagined the beautiful bluish-purple eyes that rested beneath her eyelids. In addition to the outward beauty of her body, he knew that she was a caring and kind person with a heart as pure as sunlight and a will stronger than the mightiest steel. The only way that he could describe her was perfect.

When the echo of footsteps sounded from the long rock corridor that led to their refuge, Sora's attention deviated from Kairi for an instant. He nearly drew his Keyblade, but when he listened to the subtle pattern of the steps, he knew it wasn't necessary. Rather, he hoped it wasn't necessary.

"Riku?" Sora whispered, trying not to disturb Kairi's slumber, "Riku, is that you?"

When the silver-haired Riku rounded the corner and locked his eyes on Sora and Kairi, he answered the question in a similar whisper, "No, it's your mother."

The pair shared a few laughs between them before Sora finally asked Riku, "What're you doin' here, and what's with the...?" He gestured to the Wing Edge in the grip of Riku's right hand. "Not a good time for—"

"A star went out, Sora," Riku cut the younger kid off, "I saw it go out myself!"

Sora's heart skipped a beat as he heard the shocking news. He darted to his feet, careful not to fall into the dying fire. "You did?" he almost shouted, "But that... How could the Heartless have regained strength so quickly?"

"Let's find out, Sora," he suggested immediately, "Let's go! We have that gummi ship of yours, the _Excalibur_, right?"

The Keyblade master hesitated to respond to Riku's bold plan when he gazed to Kairi, resting peacefully, oblivious to the danger unfolding in the stars. "We've only been back for just over a week," he muttered, "and we have to go already?"

"C'mon, Sora!" Riku urged, speaking in a normal-volume voice, "What's there to think about?"

_Kairi... I'm sorry to go so soon, but I have to do this. I hope you'll understand._

"If you won't go," Riku warned, "then—"

"Riku," Sora cut his friend off, "can't we wait until sunrise? If we leave Kairi without saying anything..."

The older one began to speak, but he halted himself as he looked at the sleeping Kairi. His face showed his disappointment in his choice as he told Sora, "All right... We'll leave tomorrow morning." He turned to exit the secret place, but he turned around to say, "She's _not_ coming with us, Sora. It's _way_ too risky," before exiting certainly.

Left alone once more, Sora sat down next to Kairi as he ran a gentle hand through her hair. "I'm sorry, Kairi," he spoke aloud to her, "but it looks like the journey's beginning again."

—————

"But I thought the Heartless were gone," Aerith put forth, worried. "Why are stars going out?"

Cloud, Cid, Leon, and Yuffie sat with Aerith around a table in Hollow Bastion's library. All of them were just as disturbed by the recent events as Aerith, but none could find any answers. Cid was the first to offer a theory. "Those Heartless broke the barriers between the worlds when they came," he explained, "As long as they're causin' trouble, the walls won't return. Have any of you noticed that interworld travel hasn't become impossible yet?"

"That only gives us evidence that they still exist," Leon countered seriously, "It doesn't tell us why they're still here."

Yuffie spoke up, "I've heard from Agrabah, Olympus, and some other worlds. There aren't any signs of the Heartless on any of them."

"It might just be a matter of time, Yuffie," Cid grimly stated, "Before long, the Heartless'll be back in the neighborhood just like before."

Leon stood from the chair and declared to his allies, "Then we stop them! We'll find a way to get rid of them once and for all! I'm sure—"

"There is no way, Leon."

The whole group, surprised and curious, glared at Cloud, who had been oddly silent throughout their meeting.

"There's no way to destroy all the Heartless," he went on, "They're born out of the darkness itself, thriving on it and spreading it wherever they travel. I've learned something important in my time away, and it's that once the darkness gets a hold, there's _no_ way to remove it." He looked over his left shoulder as the strange black wing spread itself out. "Believe me," he whispered, "I've tried."

Cid scoffed at the blonde-haired fighter, "Well, there's no way that I'm just gonna give up an' roll over!"

As the others spoke up in affirmation, Cloud spoke louder, "I didn't mean to suggest that we give up, but it's foolish to think we can destroy them forever. The recent defeat of Ansem proves that they can be defeated, if only temporarily. I think that is a more realistic goal."

The party fell silent at Cloud's words as they pondered to themselves. As Leon sat back down, Cloud's eyes drifted slowly to Aerith. _I wanted to tell you earlier,_ he thought, almost believing absurdly that she could hear him, _I opened my heart to the darkness, and it'll never let go now. It'll linger on within my heart for as long as I live. Aerith... I hope you'll understand._

"No matter what action we take," Leon finally summed up, "we will need the help of the Keyblade."

"I hear that Sora went back to his island," Cid offered helpfully, "The _Highwind_'ll get us there in a jiffy!"

Aerith and the others, save Cloud, chuckled at Cid as Yuffie noted, "Any excuse to use your new gummi ship, right, Cid?"

Cid grimaced as he crossed his arms and nodded with pride, "Well, you know me!"

"I look forward to seeing Sora again," said Aerith.

"Me, too," agreed Yuffie, "Even I miss the little guy!"

"We'll see him soon enough, people," Leon told the party, "We'll leave ASAP for Sora's island. 'Til then, we'll prepare ourselves for the worst."

Cloud walked away from the group without another word, his dark red cloak billowing behind him as he strolled down the stairs of the library. _The worst,_ the darkened warrior told himself, _is yet to come._


	6. Chapter VI: First Contact

**_Author's Notes:_** The first major traces of shounen-ai start here.

* * *

**Chapter VI: First Contact**

"Sora!" the young Kairi yelled at him, holding back the majority of her saddened and upset mood, "Why _now_? Why do you have to go _now_, of all times?" Her violet-blue eyes held back the tears that were developing within her even as she spoke with Sora on the beach where their raft had been sitting before the fateful storm of the Heartless. In the raft's place, the _Excalibur_, a gummi ship that was merely an upgraded version of the _Kingdom_-class from the beginning of Sora's original adventure, was active and ready for take-off, though pilotless. Riku leaned against the vessel, while Sora stood before Kairi, trying to comfort her in their last moments before he left her once again on a journey.

"Kairi..." Sora began, but no words followed. What more could he say than what he had already told her?

Her eyes broke contact with his almost instantly when she repeated, as if she had heard the same thing a million times over, "I know... You have to go. People are depending on you."

"You make it sound like I'm going off to die, Kairi!" he said to her in a tone that resembled disbelief. "I'm coming back in one piece." He then reached into his pocket and pulled out a certain key chain in the shape of a star. "After all, I'll have this with me, Kairi. As long as I have it, I'll come back to give it to you. Remember the promise?"

Speechless, Kairi nodded in agreement as she began to rub her eyes.

"There's no need for tears, Kairi," he told her softly as he grasped her hand gently, "Just trust me. I'll come back to you. I promise."

The brown-haired girl looked up at Sora, and to complete the feeling of déjà vu that both of them felt, Kairi spoke under her breath the same words that she had spoken to him an eternity before.

"I know you will."

—————

The Third District was no better off than any other location within Traverse Town. Lights in lampposts were barely functioning, the ground was littered with dust and debris from structures in disrepair, and not one person was within sight as Tracy, Felicity, and Vivi made their entrance into it after a night of rest. Though Traverse Town was always in a state of nighttime, Tracy's internal clock told him that it was indeed morning. Tracy's old friend was clearly shocked at the ruined state of the city, while Tracy, expecting such a mess, was still slightly excited to even be there. Of the party, Vivi was the calmest, having no reason for surprise or excitement. The kids were armed at Zidane's behest; Vivi had his staff, Tracy carried his stick, and Felicity held a borrowed dagger in spite of Tracy's reservation for giving her a sharp, shiny weapon.

_I've got a bad feeling about this,_ thought the boy from Madison.

"Wow!" exclaimed Felicity as she ran into the Third District from the Second, "We're _really_ in another world, Tracy! We're _really_ in Traverse Town!"

Chuckling happily, he sent back to her, "And I couldn't have asked for better company."

"Hey!" the teenage girl half-shouted, "It's the house where Leon and the others set up headquarters! Wonder if anyone's—"

"Felicity?" asked Vivi, "How do you and Tracy know so much about this town and us?"

_Damn,_ Tracy cursed silently, _I wasn't looking forward to this..._

Felicity began to stutter an answer, "W-well, umm... I, uh, w-we..."

It struck Tracy as powerfully a Behemoth's meteors. Taking a few moments to fabricate his falsehood further, the boy told Vivi, "Mythology."

"What?" Felicity and Vivi both answered.

"Yeah, Felicity," he began, subtle as he could to keep Vivi believing, "Zidane, Freya, this town, the Heartless — they're all myths on our world, stories told for our entertainment."

Vivi began to challenge, "But we're—"

"—real?" finished the other. "Before the Heartless came, we didn't even try to believe that the stories could be true. Obviously' they _are_ true, and since Felicity and I," he grinned playfully between himself and Felicity, "_immersed_ ourselves in the stories, we know enough to survive here."

The girl added onto his explanation, "I hope."

Vivi's glowing yellow eyes looked between the otherworldly pair thoughtfully. "So we're just stories?" he asked dejectedly.

"Aw, Vivi!" encouraged Tracy as he put a hand on the little guy's shoulder, "Don't put it like that! You, my friend, are just as _real_ as I am, like any other flesh-and-blood person."

"C'mon, guys!" directed the giddy girl, "Let's get goin'!"

Reluctantly, Vivi and Tracy walked further into the Third District, turning right and stepping down a staircase following the anxious Felicity. Starlight continued as they strolled, "Besides, we wouldn't be having this nice chat if either of us weren't real, would we?"

"I... guess so." Vivi slowly made his way down the stairs, but halfway along the way, the child-like magician tripped and fell the rest of the way, knocking Felicity down in the process.

"Ow!" both of them screamed as they slowly started to recover. Vivi climbed to a standing position, straightened out his pointy hat, and brushed himself off while Felicity also stood up. For a fraction of a second, a hint of anger crossed her face, but it was immediately extinguished when she saw Vivi stare at her.

"S-sorry, Felicity," he instantly apologized with all the bright-eyed innocence of a child at play, "I'll try to be more careful."

At a loss for words, the girl said, "It's... ah, never mind."

Tracy caught up with the duo shortly, asking them, "Y'all okay?"

"I-I'm fine," Vivi returned.

"Nothin' broken!" replied Felicity.

"Good to hear, fellas," he grinned, "So let's go."

The trio, led by Tracy, walked into a wide area where flashbacks to the first Guard Armor entered the minds of Felicity and Tracy. Fortunately for them, there was no sign of the Heartless as they traveled along the high wall closest to the exit of the Second District, though they didn't want to take any chances.

"So, where're we goin'?" queried Vivi after a moment of silence.

"I wanna see if Merlin's home," Tracy told him honestly as he neared the peculiar doorway with a picture of a flame on it, "If he's here, then maybe he'll be able to help us."

Felicity placed a forceful hand on Starlight's shoulder and stepped in front of him, telling the boy, "I thought we were looking for Sora!"

Confident in his logic, Tracy said only two words to her, "Gummi ship." While Felicity began to comprehend at last, he turned to Vivi and told him, gesturing to the fire-marked entrance, "We'll need your magic to get in. A little Fire spell should do it."

"Sure thing, Tracy," he complied gladly as he whirled his staff a few times. Following that, Vivi waved it towards the door, and a decent-sized fireball emerged from the magic rod and hit the door. A moment later, the entryway slid open swiftly.

A bright smile on his lips, Tracy looked down to Vivi, patted his back, and told him genuinely, "This looks like the start of a beautiful friendship."

—————

"Hello?" called out Vivi as he and his friends walked around Merlin's house towards where Tracy knew the entrance was located. "Anyone home?"

Tracy spoke up, pointing to a cloth hanging over a hole in the wall, "The entrance."

"We get to meet _Merlin_!" Felicity exclaimed loudly, effectively demonstrating her excitement at the situation, "Cool!"

"'Cool'?" asked the little mage, obviously confused at the term.

"It's slang where we come from," Tracy revealed to him, "It basically means that she can't wait to meet Merlin."

"What're we waiting for?" the girl blurted out as she flung the curtain-like cloth away from the entryway and burst into the house. Immediately, Vivi and Tracy followed after her, hoping that her sudden intrusion into the household wasn't seen as troublesome by Merlin. Troubling the sorcerer, however, seemed to be the least of their troubles when the threesome fully entered the house to discover the worst thing they could possibly imagine in their situation except a horde of Heartless: nothing. There was no lighting, no tables, no books, no chairs, and no hope of finding Merlin. In the blink of an eye, they were knocked violently back to square one.

"Uhm," whispered Felicity jokingly, "This seems like a big waste of time to me."

"Too bad," Vivi said to them.

Tracy looked around the chamber repeatedly, muttering to himself, aware of present company, "Aw, darn! I guess Merlin went back to his world." Tracy stepped further into the empty room, walking slowly and deliberately to match his mixed saddened and angered mood. _Don't take it too hard, Tracy,_ he told himself, _You knew that he might've not been home. At least you tried..._

"And where," inquired Tracy's old ally, "does that leave us?"

The boy thought on the possibilities before him, numbering to be none. Leaping onto the central stone platform where Merlin's table and chair once resided, he turned to Vivi and Felicity, telling the pair, "It leaves us without anywhere to turn to. If we can't get in contact with anyone we know, then we're not gonna be any help to anyone." With the thought voiced, he jumped — higher than he ever jumped before — over his allies and landed near the exit. Giving it a brief second thought, he waved to the door before making his exit, "Let's get outta here, ya?"

As her friend from Madison left the room, Felicity muttered at him, "You shouldn't talk like that. It's bad for your health."

"Hey, guys?" asked Tracy as Vivi and Felicity exited the house, "You mind goin' back to the house? I wanna have some time to myself."

—————

"Well, here it is," Tracy spoke to himself as he stood in the middle of the Third District, "Finally free of that town, that reality, that whatever you wanna call it..." He gazed towards the starry sky, brushing away the hair that hung before his right eye. "But how many people had to die, how many lives were ruined to get me here?" Realizing something important, he shook his head, "No. They didn't die to get me here... They simply died, and I happened to live through it. Pathetic, really, that of _anyone_ to live, Felicity and I survive."

A stray thought occurred. "Dammit!" he cursed quietly, "No pencil, no paper... The experience of a _lifetime_, and I can't write about it!" He pondered over the circumstances. He had left his current work, _Observations of a Deviant_, back home, and there was no going back for it. Tracy could've added so much to the observations now that he knew so much more. He figured that he could write an entire chapter on the nature of the Heartless alone.

He began to move onward, making his way towards the doorway to the First District as he explained to himself, "Creatures of darkness, born of darkness — where do they fit into this scheme? There are creatures of the dark, but none of the light. I wonder why that is?"

Tracy finally arrived at the doorway and pushed it open as he continued his conversation, taking a different topic, "Why aren't the Heartless in this town? You'd th—"

Tracy's wandering eyes met those of a handsome, silver-haired teenager with piercing blue eyes wearing blue jeans and a dominantly yellow shirt with two blue stripes overlapping over his chest. The sight of such a vision of beauty, regardless of its familiarity, caused the heart of young Tracy Tobias Starlight to skip a beat or two. So transfixed on the fifteen-year-old boy, the star-struck Tracy forgot to stop walking, eventually tripping over a fallen lamppost and hitting the dirty ground with a thud and sending dirt into the air. Dazed for the moment, Tracy brought his arms to use, supporting his torso slightly above the ground with his left hand and right elbow as he coughed in reaction to the airborne dust.

"Hey, man," the familiar, concerned voice spoke to him from above, "You okay?"

Looking up to his right, Tracy's eyes beheld the elegant form of Riku towering over his downed self. Noticing his awkward position, the displaced youth began to laugh at both himself for his clumsiness and his situation.

He must've looked quite insane judging from the look on Riku's face when he asked Tracy again, this time far more troubled, "You okay?"

The other's mouth tried to move, but no words left his lips as he could only stare up at Riku.

After another moment, the standing kid offered his hand to Tracy. "C'mon. Get up, man." Tracy wordlessly took Riku's hand, and he was soon to his own two feet. "So, you gotta name to go with those graceful feet of yours?"

His lips twitched momentarily before he answered, "T-Tracy." He held back what he was thinking: _You gotta name to go with those pretty eyes of yours?_

"Tracy, eh?" Riku repeated, probably hearing the name for the first time ever. "I'm Riku," he grinned at the bedazzled boy, "You should probably watch your step."

A third voice joined their conversation, if it could be called a conversation, "Who are you talking to, Riku?"

_Sora? Sora! Well, what d'ya know?_

"His name's Tracy," Riku told Sora matter-of-factly, "He lives here, I—"

"No!" cut off Tracy in a flash. When he gained the stares of both Riku and Sora, he knew that he had to give an explanation, and he started with, "My world was called Madison, but it's gone, destroyed by the Heartless."

"The Heartless?" both of the friends almost yelled.

"A-anyway, guys," Tracy pressed on, "Follow m-me and we'll t-talk about th-this. We'll need your help to stop them."

_If they _can_ be stopped,_ he added to himself.


	7. Chapter VII: The First Step

**_Author's Notes:_** A certain important event at the end of Disc One in _Final Fantasy VII_ is mentioned. If you don't already know what I'm talking about, then it's a major spoiler for the said game.

* * *

**Chapter VII: The First Step**

Tracy was looking at a dream. In the living room of a decaying house, the boy was confronted with the sight of a crew of Final Fantasy heroes as real as his need for action. Maintaining an outward calm, Starlight leaned against a wall and watched the party silently.

While Tracy had used his time to himself to run into Riku and Sora, it seemed that Zidane, Vivi, and Felicity had also discovered some old acquaintances. In different places throughout the room, Cloud, Cid, Leon, Yuffie, and Aerith were standing, speaking with Sora, Zidane, and the others. According to what Tracy had heard, Cid's gummi ship, ironically called the _Highwind_, was able to stop by Destiny Islands long enough to find out that Sora had left already for Traverse Town. With speed that made Cid proud, their ship arrived at almost the same time as Sora's ship. With all of the major participants in place, Tracy knew that it wouldn't be long before the true adventure would begin.

Tracy glanced beside him, where Felicity stood, fuming towards a certain person in the room. With a heavy sigh, he said to her, "Hating her won't change anything."

"So?" she challenged him, keeping her voice down to a minimal volume while still plainly showing her anger, "I can still hate her! That God damn Aeris!"

"Aerith," corrected the boy.

She shrugged it off, uncaring, "Whatever! The fact is that Cloud should've been with Tifa!"

Tracy wanted to tell Felicity just how childish the reason for such vehemence was, but he chose not to anger her any further. The girl was passionate in her opinions about Aerith, and meeting the one person that she actually enjoyed seeing die in _Final Fantasy VII_ didn't help to calm her. Instead, he focused on an interest that they both held in common.

With a mischievous grin, Tracy commented to Felicity quietly, "Cloud's kinda cute, ain't he?"

"Cloud, Leon, Riku," she enumerated, "Squaresoft sure did a good job designing 'em."

"Just don't tell them that, eh?" he told her jokingly, though he was truly serious about the meaning of the words. "It'll be easier that way."

Felicity raised her shoulders, "Fine with me."

With that out of the way, Starlight set his sights on another interesting specimen. "You think Riku and I could," the boy smirked with enjoyment at the idea, "You know..."

Felicity shook her head as she admitted, "We're in a room with Cloud, Squall, and Zidane. If we can manage _that_, then anything's possible!"

"So, guys," Sora finally spoke up to the room, "Exactly where are we going to start?"

Riku added onto that, "If we don't move fast, the Heartless will be all over the place in no time."

"Umm," Zidane began to say, "Quick question."

The room glared at the boy with the tail curiously before Cid responded to him, "Shoot."

"These gummi ships that you guys travel in," he asked of the whole group, "the pieces are elastic and rubbery, right?"

Most of the room, i.e. those who knew what a gummi ship was, nodded in confirmation.

Zidane then reached into a pocket and pulled out a curious object. "Is this what you call a 'gummi piece'?"

Tracy took a step towards Zidane as he tried to gain a look at the strange cube that he had produced. It was small and fit into the palm of his hand, and it was bright red. Even though Tracy was hardly an expert on gummi pieces, he knew enough to guess that it was actually a part to one of those ships. How Zidane obtained the piece, however, was a different mystery.

"That, my boy," Cid said to Zidane, "is a navi-gummi."

"Navi-gummi," Tracy whispered to himself. _How did Zidane get one of those? More importantly, where will it take us if it's installed onto a ship?_

"A navi-gummi?" Sora asked reflexively, "Cid, could you install it on the _Excalibur_?"

Cid grimaced at the Keyblade master as he answered in a question, "Is water wet, boy?"

"I guess that's a yes," Riku stated plainly, glaring at the crusty engineer.

"This navi-gummi," Leon rationalized, "will most likely take you to new worlds, worlds that you've never before witnessed, Sora."

Yuffie added, "It might even lead to the part of the universe where the Heartless are invading."

"We're fairly choiceless here," finished the gunblader, "Unless there are any other surprises, our only choice is to let Sora go to those new worlds and protect them from the Heartless."

"You mean seal the Keyholes, right?" Tracy butted into the talking.

Leon shot a confused look towards Tracy. "Yes," he answered.

"How do you know about the Keyholes, Tracy?" Sora asked him.

"It's in the mythology of his world," Vivi explained to the room, "Before his world was destroyed, he and Felicity believed that the Keyholes and everything were just myths."

Tracy took another step into the group, offering to them, "And so far, every so-called 'myth' has been proven right. My world had a lot of myths, and those stories might prove useful to you when we start world-hopping."

"Ummm, Tracy," Felicity whispered into his ear, "What're you trying to do?"

"Trust me," was his only response.

Untrusting of the newcomer into their plans, Leon looked the teenager over a few times before he inquired of him, "Very well, then. What do you propose?"

—————

The meeting had been concluded an hour ago, and the separate parties went in their own directions after that. Zidane and Amarant left the house to be alone; Cid went to install the navi-gummi onto Sora's vessel; Felicity stayed with Freya and Vivi; Tracy made his way to the rooftops of Traverse Town via the Gizmo Shop; Yuffie and Leon went to the old waterway to discuss the recent developments; Sora decided to take a nap at Zidane's place; Riku walked to the Third District.

Within an old, empty house surrounded by water, the enigmatic Cloud awaited the arrival of his special someone. The setting was perfect for Cloud; there was no chance of an interruption. When he finally decided to tell Aerith what was on his mind, Leon had cut the moment short before he could utter his first word. This time, he resolved, it would be different.

"Cloud?" came the softly angelic voice of Aerith as she walked slowly into the dismal place.

He turned his head to spy the woman enter before turning totally. "Aerith. I'm... glad you came."

The worry on her face was self-evident, and her voice increased its clarity tenfold when she asked him, "Cloud, what is it? Is something wrong?"

Gathering his mental strength, Cloud took a deep breath and exhaled, "Yes, Aerith... I'm wrong."

Confusion added itself onto worry when she inquired further, "What? What's that mean?"

Cloud looked into her eyes for an infinitesimal moment before breaking the contact, "I..."

Suddenly, Cloud's apprehension was shattered when she said, "It's about Hades, isn't it?"

"How did you know about that?" Cloud queried her, his eyes finally focused entirely on hers. In the time it took to ask her, though, his answer was given to him. "Leon told you...?"

The bright-eyed girl hesitated to answer him, but only for a second. "He told me about your dark powers, about how you made that deal with Hades," she paused deliberately to emphasize, "to find _me_."

Once more, Cloud's eyes drifted away, as if he no longer felt himself deserving to look upon her. "I was a fool. I thought I could control the darkness, but I failed. This," he expanded the demonic black wing behind his left shoulder, "this is _my_ reward. It is _my_ penance. The darkness was inside my heart, and now it will _never_ go away."

"I... I understand that, Cloud," admitted Aerith, "but no matter how dark you think you are, I know that there will always be that light inside of you, that light that was willing to leap into the dark in hopes of finding me. You will always have that light, Cloud. Don't lose sight of it."

_Don't lose sight of it,_ the words echoes in his thoughts. He looked down and... smiled. Cloud chuckled to himself, and as he looked up at Aerith for the last time, his eyes showed something in them that Aerith hadn't seen in a long time: contentment and peace.

"Aerith... Thank you."

—————

Walking on the rooftops of a town that was already in shambles didn't seem like a good idea at the time, and it still didn't seem like an excellent plan, but Tracy maintained that no one with a shred of sanity would come up there. Therefore, it made an excellent place to be alone, even if the roof wasn't entirely stable.

"In all the worlds in all the universes," he complained under his breath, "I had to end up in Madison." Carefully, Tracy Starlight made his way across the rooftops, seeing the open hatch in the distance, the hatch that he knew led to the Third District. He had traveled the route many times when he played _Kingdom Hearts_, mostly to kill Heartless. At least then, he knew, he didn't have to worry about the ceiling caving in beneath him. "Could've been born on Gaia or Spira or _somewhere_... But I got Madison," he spoke loudly, not caring if he was heard.

"Boring as hell," he continued, "No adventure, no excitement outside my own mind! My best experiences are within the world of the written word." He scoffed as he remembered a poem that he had written weeks before Madison's destruction called "Just a Piece of Paper". He had submitted that work and nineteen others into the literary magazine that his school's Creative Writing classes created yearly, including a personal narrative describing the life given to him by his divorcing parents. "This world, this reality — this was what I should've been born into!

"And now, my time has finally arrived," he told himself as he leapt into the hatch to the Third District, landing on a high balcony overlooking the vicinity, "I'm about to embark on something that few living mortals will ever _really_ experience!" He smiled as he remembered his words from earlier. "And I _don't_ have a damn pencil!" he moaned to himself.

"Someone there?" a voice, Riku's voice, called from below, "Hello?"

Tracy thought as he heard the other teenager, _Riku? This looks like an excellent chance..._

—————

"I know someone's up there!" he continued to yell from the center of the Third District, "I know I'm not crazy!"

In answer to Riku's shouts, a figure leapt from high above, but Riku couldn't see from where. In the space of a few moments, the silver-haired Riku was watching as someone, a male boy, landed gracefully on the ground barely three meters in front of him, bent down to the ground. A brief second later, Riku's mind caught up with his eyes.

"Tracy?" Riku queried, "Is that right?"

The other kid rose from his crouched position and smiled at him gently. "That's right."

_What is it with this guy?_ asked Riku, _There's just something... weird..._ He turned the thoughts away as he started up a friendly conversation, "So, you're coming with us now?"

"That's not a problem, I hope," Tracy returned, "I'd hate to get in the way."

"With that stick of yours as your only weapon," joked Riku, "it'll be hard not to get in our way."

The other exhaled a sigh as he reasoned, "I have knowledge that you might need, Sora has that Keyblade of his, and you have—" Tracy cut himself short, as if he didn't want to finish the sentence he had started.

Riku, on the other hand, couldn't let such a tempting mystery go unanswered. "What do I have, Tracy?"

"Well, it's..." He stepped to Riku and whispered secretively, "Promise not to tell?"

"Mark my word," Riku swore.

Tracy restrained a childish giggle as he complimented the other boy, "_You_ have the most handsome eyes that I've ever seen!"

Riku was efficiently caught off-guard by the peculiar line that Tracy muttered, and he was soon laughing aloud like never before while he managed to ask him, "Wh-what?"

Tracy's own amusement also seemed too great to hold within, and he, too, was almost to his knees in laughter. "I... I... I said," he said in a high-pitched voice between laughs, "that you're... eyes are... _pretty!_"

Their laughing fit intensified between Riku and Tracy until neither of them could remain standing upright. Riku's hands were to his stomach as is he had been kicked there a dozen times, while Tracy was actually reduced to his knees by his own foolish giggling.

_What's so funny?_ Riku pondered to himself. _He said my eyes were attractive. What is it, then?_ As he looked at the stranger from a strange world, Riku couldn't help but remember that the last time he'd laughed this hard... Actually, he never recalled laughing this hard. _And yet I'm laughing all the same..._

"Well, Tracy," Riku finally uttered quietly as he made an effort to peek into the eyes of his new acquaintance before stating, "you're eyes are pretty, too."

The kid of Madison regained his balance and got to his feet as he heard the countered compliment, and he said back to his new ally, "I'll remember that, Riku."

—————

"Well, kiddies," Cid announced to Sora, Tracy, Riku, Felicity, and, of all people, Zidane, "the gummi's installed! Just hop in and fly like the wind! Give those Heartless one for the home team!"

"Sora," Zidane said suddenly, "I'm coming with you." Sora and the others eyes the thief in surprise as he continued, "That was my gummi block you installed, and I, for one, wanna see where it leads!" He paused before recalling another detail. "Oh, Tracy!"

Tracy raised an eyebrow to Zidane, "Yeah?"

"Catch!" He tossed the boy's stick to him, and it was caught with great ease on Starlight's part. "Vivi and Aerith gave it a bit of magic power. They say it'll be more effective against the Heartless."

Felicity's face tightened in an irate fashion as she complained, "Don't I get a weapon, too? What about me?"

"You had a weapon?" Sora chose to ask.

"No!" she yelled, "That's why I need one!"

Zidane pondered over it for a second as he reached into his inventory. "Here!" He threw a rod at Felicity, "It belonged to a special friend of mine named Dagger. It's called the Wizard Rod."

"A rod?" she continued to complain, "What am I—"

"Be glad you have something, Felicity," Tracy intervened, "Are we leaving?"

"Born ready!" Riku boasted as he jumped into the _Excalibur_, "Let's get this ship in the air!"

Sora smiled in his traditional, toothy smile as he climbed up into the cockpit, declaring, "I'm pilot!"

"God help us," Felicity whispered as she, too made her way to the cockpit.

Zidane was next to enter, followed by a very pensive Tracy. As the ship lifted off, setting its sights on worlds and stars beyond what he could have dreamed of, holding dangers that he never desired to face, he remembered an old saying from his hometown.

_The journey of a thousand miles,_ he thought as the _Excalibur_ zoomed towards the newly opened warp hole, _begins with the first step._


	8. Chapter VIII: Déjà Vu

**_Author's Notes:_** I have a number of ideas of worlds for our heroes to visit, as well as some new character crossovers to make things interesting(for me, in the very least). As you can expect, the adventure's only beginning.

I'm aware that I'm changing the first world from what it really was in the game it came from. Let's just call it taking creative license, eh?

Forgive any details I may have missed by novelizing a certain scene from _Kingdom Hearts_. I've only seen it twice.

* * *

**Chapter VIII: Déjà Vu**

"'And that, as they say, is that,'" Tracy finished aloud, though the words weren't written on the paper. Finished, he took a deep breath and stood from the chair in front of his desk, and he began to pace around the dimly-lit room.

"You think anyone would understand?" he asked himself. "No, probably not. What kind of fool spends his night writing about and analyzing the darkness, however badly his writing might turn out?" With a laugh and a shake of his head, he replied, "Me, but that's okay. No one needs to understand. It doesn't really matter if I'm right or wrong. At least I'm thinking. At least I—"

Interrupting his soliloquy, a brief thumping noise emanated from his closet, as if something fell down. His eyes instantly shifted towards the closet door, which was, to his shock, closed. Tracy's eyebrows lowered in thought as he spoke, "_This..._ is too familiar." The fear-inspiring déjà vu was undeniable. "This is..." he tried to form words, but none came from his mouth as he sorted everything in his mind, _There's a dark void in my closet. I grabbed my staff and fought a Heartless and escaped some Soldiers. I ran to the hills and saw the Keyhole before..._

At long last, everything was clear to Tracy. He recalled leaving from Traverse Town with Sora, Riku, Zidane, and Felicity with Sora piloting the _Excalibur_ to the new warp hole, which took the quintet to a distant part of the universe. The first world they came across was...

"A shining orb of pink energy," Tracy whispered in shock, remembering everything, "Memoria."

"You're the first one to find that out," an unfamiliar, graceful voice told the slightly-confused Tracy, causing the boy to whirl around to face the revealingly-dressed villain, Kuja. The madman's white hair went down his back beautifully, while his disturbingly, deceptively gentle eyes gazed at Tracy with a strange and sadistic interest. "You, my lovely boy, have some interesting memories," stated Kuja.

_Is it just me,_ Tracy Starlight pondered, _or is he actually gayer than I am?_

"You know much of the other worlds," he went on, never taking his glare off of Tracy, "and I'm especially interested in _how_ you learned what you know."

As the accurate assumption that Kuja had somehow looked into Tracy's memories crossed his mind, the boy risked a look to the corner where his staff rested, wondering what difference it would make against an enemy as powerful as Kuja. In another instant, it occurred to Tracy that Kuja wasn't in his Tranced state. While Tracy filed that in his thoughts under the label of "Possible Advantages," the diabolical man held a hand before him. With a magical ability, a familiar weapon, Tracy Starlight's stick, appeared. He then tossed the rod to Tracy, telling him, "That's the one you entered Memoria with, the rod with magical enhancement. That one," he nodded to the corner, "is what you remember it to be before your world's end."

Hearing the words but definitely not trusting them, Tracy arranged for a simple test. With the stick ready, he went to his closet and opened it. Immediately, the Shadow of his memory attacked with a swift tackle. Feeling the pain of the Heartless's attack, finally believing it to be real, Tracy recoiled and fired his own attack. With one mighty thrust, the Shadow disintegrated uselessly.

"That was wise," congratulated Kuja with a pleased smirk, "'To risk—'"

"'—or not,'" Tracy finished his own quote, the last line from "A Possibility," a poem he had written, "You read my poetry, too?" He didn't give time for Kuja to respond as he continued, "Of course, there's far more to my problem than that. You could've made that Heartless far weaker than the one I remember, this being easier to kill, even with a normal wooden stick. Then again, you could be telling the truth, which I'm having trouble believing."

The villain yawned, "Well, that hurts."

"So, Kuja," asked Tracy with a sarcastic form of courtesy, "where're the others."

"In their own memories," he revealed honestly, "You can go find them, if you wish. Now that you understand the nature of Memoria, you can move around freely. Since you're good at games, freeing Zidane and the others should be no trouble for you."

"Thanks, I think," mumbled Tracy. "What are the rules of this 'game'?"

"Find your friends, find me, and," he laughed with more than a hint of arrogant insanity, "_kill_ me!" Kuja then waved a hand and uttered confidently, "Good luck!" before vanishing into darkness.

"Moron," whispered Tracy at the walls as he was left alone once again to his room, or more accurately, a memory of his room. His eyes wandered as he pondered what move to take next. In their wandering, the eyes came to rest on his school backpack. Within it, he knew that he had two binders, one for Highland day and once for Scot day. Within those binders were four folders, a pencil, and a healthy supply of paper each.

_Pencil and paper,_ Tracy repeated to himself with a wide, gleeful smile, "Good things!"

—————

Riku's heart raced through the terrifying feelings faster than his mind could comprehend, barely staying long enough to be pinned down with words. He knew that what he was going through couldn't be real, but it didn't stop it from somehow truly being real. Every feeling, every sensation, every horrid thought was just as it had been on that devastating day over one month before. Everything was perfect, _too_ perfect, _too_ real, and as he and Ansem, once more within the same shell, sat above the portal to the depths of darkness, shaped like the insignia of the Heartless, he fought once again to retake himself. On the ground before the swirling doorway, the lifeless body of Kairi rested, awaiting her heart's return. The Grand Hall of Hollow Bastion was still and empty, as if it were a crime to even speak or make any sound within its walls.

The unspoken law was soon shattered when the footfalls of Sora, Donald, and Goofy entered the chamber, quickly making their way up the stairway to the upper platform, bearing strange and unknown machinery. Sora and Donald stepped past the threshold, but Goofy was immediately knocked away by a magical force. Though Donald noticed this and looked back to his fallen comrade, Sora failed to notice Goofy's absence. Kairi, on the other hand, was the first person his attention earned.

"Kairi!" Sora burst out as he approached, "Kairi! Open your eyes!"

"It's no use," the blended voices of Ansem and Riku told Sora. "That girl has lost her heart. She cannot wake up."

Within himself, Riku struggled to speak with his own voice, but his efforts only resulted in his own thoughts, shouting through his heart, _This isn't right! This is the past! It's over, done with! Remember, Sora! Remember!_

The expression of shock and understanding finally crossed Sora's visage as he gazed upon the body of his friend, sitting above the portal holding a Keyblade all his own. "What? You... You're not Riku!"

"The Keyhole cannot be completed," Riku/Ansem explained to the other Keyblade bearer, "so as long as the last princess of heart still sleeps."

Sora's sights shifted between Riku and Kairi as he digested this new information. "The princess? Kairi's a princess?" he asked for confirmation, but something new entered his voice, out-of-place given the circumstances.

Familiarity?

Giving Sora a quick look, the joined being jumped from his sitting spot, gliding elegantly through the air before he settled down on the ground in front of Sora, his back to the portal.

"Yes," the darker individual answered him, giving no outward sign of noting Sora's sudden shift in tone, "and without her power, the Keyhole will remain incomplete. It is time she awakened."

Now outwardly becoming aware of something distant and wrong, Sora said, as if the words had lost any true, meaningful purpose, "Whoever you are, let Riku go. Give him back his heart."

_Sora! Remember! Resist!_

In continued ignorance of Sora's inward confusion, the lines continued to flow from Riku's lips, "But first, you must give the princess back her heart." Afterwards, Riku/Ansem lifted the Keyblade, pointed towards Sora's chest, and a flash later, Sora knelt down, grasping his chest in obvious discomfort as something stirred within himself.

Useless in the current situation, Donald could only react with a concerned exclamation, "Sora!"

"What's..." exhaled Sora breathlessly as the mysterious pain persisted.

"Don't you see yet?" Riku/Ansem asked the downed boy, clearly surprised that he failed to understand his dilemma. "The princess's heart is responding. It has been there all along. Kairi's heart rests within you!"

"That's it," he whispered in realization, "Kairi's inside my heart."

Riku's sharp blue pupils examined the fallen Sora as if he felt some form of pity for the boy's plight. He gave no words to affirm this and only stated profoundly, "I know all that there is to know."

"You're... Ansem," he stated, not asked, "the seeker of... darkness..."

Riku's lips curled in a brief smile. "So, you know of me?"

With himself formally introduced, the boy walked towards Sora, the Keyblade held in his grip as he prepared for the final blow. Donald Duck, however, had other plans, and he rushed wildly at the seeker of darkness, only to be knocked away by the child's free left hand like a simple rag doll, flying outside of the magic field that had previously kept Goofy out.

"So, I shall release you now, Princess," Ansem announced to Sora and Kairi.

Within, Riku hoped for a miracle. He knew that Sora was aware of the strange déjà vu, but did he know enough to use his knowledge to his advantage? Riku continued the internal struggle, despite Ansem's own inner strength.

"Complete the Keyhole with your power," he seemed to command of the heart of the princess, "Open the door, lead me into everlasting darkness!" In a moment, Riku soon began to relive one of the devastating moments that haunted his nightmares to that day. With nothing to stop him, Ansem raised the Keyblade above his head, ready to attack Sora, to unlock his heart in the most violent way possible.

Then, another voice, that of a young man, sounded within the Great Hall, yelling loudly and echoing through the room, "Sora!"

Riku's/Ansem's attention was diverted from the task at hand only for a moment as he turned his head to the portal behind him, where the voice had emanated from. His reward for this was a powerful blast of Firaga in his face. As Riku's body fell forwards, Sora swiftly rolled out of the way to prevent being landed upon by the falling teenager. A millisecond later, Sora's Keyblade, bearing the key chain of the Ultima Weapon, materialized in his hands to counter the threat posed by Riku/Ansem.

Sora leapt to his feet immediately, prepared for a contest of strength, but his instincts directed him to the dark portal, before which was standing a teen with disheveled, long brown hair with a blue overshirt, one sleeve longer than the other, a red-and-black backpack, and a four-foot long staff in his right hand. The end of the weapon was pointed at Riku, giving evidence that the powerful blast of fire had come from the newcomer.

"Tracy?" Sora spoke, unsure of how he knew the name.

"Glad you remember," the other kid retorted before turning his full effort towards the possessed Riku. "Ansem!" Tracy shouted, traces of enjoyment creeping into his voice, "Two-on-one?"

Riku recovered from the Firaga blast with minimal effort as he turned to examine his competition, the Keyblade still firmly in his grip. The anger clear and obvious in Riku's eyes, the two voices warned Sora and Tracy with finality, "The darkness lingers."

Before either of the two boy could ask what that meant, Riku's body collapsed to the ground as magical energy surrounded it. As the aura dissipated, it took Riku's dark clothing with it, returning him to his usual yellow-and-blue outfit. The black Keyblade, however, remained in his hand.

"Riku!" both the old friend and the new ally called as they rushed towards him.

The mention of his name seemed to restore some of his senses as the eyes of the fifteen-year-old began to flinch with activity. "S-Sora?" he grumbled, barely awake, "Tracy?"

"We're here, Riku," Tracy reassured him as he knelt beside the Keyblade holder and scooped his upper body upright with his arms slowly. "Don't worry. Ansem's gone now."

_I wish I could believe that,_ Riku thought as he looked back on the hellish horror that he had just lived through. _How did this happen? The last thing I remember was that... weird pink ball...Is that what Hell looks like?_

Sora spoke to Riku, "Are you okay? What happened?"

"This place," Tracy laid plain, "is called Memoria. It's a place made purely of the memories of those who enter it."

Sora turned his eyes to Tracy Starlight. "So this isn't really real?"

"I wouldn't say that," he countered, "This place makes memories real from what I've observed. My best guess is that Kuja has gained the power to use our memories against us."

"Kuja?" Riku and Sora asked of Tracy.

The boy paused temporarily before he said simply, "Long story."

_Memories used against us? Whoever this Kuja guy is, he's _really_ gonna get it when I get my hands on him. No one should _ever_ have to relive that kind of torture, _ever...

"This place," Riku mumbled sleepily, "is what nightmares are made of..."

With those last words, Riku drifted into the darkness of well-earned sleep.


	9. Chapter IX: Dark Deals and Theories

**_Author's Notes:_** If any readers happen to catch any typos or mistakes anywhere in the story, it would be greatly appreciated to mention them to me in one way or another. Many thanks in advance.

* * *

**Chapter IX: Dark Deals and Theories**

"You're taking a foolish risk," said the magical man of the darkness. The mysterious person was clothed with a long blue cape that stopped shy of touching the ground, black pants and boots, and a dark gray vest. The stranger's light azure hair fell over his back as his face, cold and almost lifeless, observed Kuja with scarlet-hued eyes and quasi-friendly attention. Slightly pointed ears rounded his face with small, triangular earrings on both of them. All of his features exuded an aura of blackness, especially when he went on, "You should kill them all while they're still trapped in their memories."

The overconfident Kuja simply brushed a few stray hairs from his face when he challenged, "I don't recall asking _you_ for advice."

"But," the other countered, "you _did_ ask for my help, and I'm going to help you, but only _if_," he stressed, "you pay attention to what I'm telling you and _kill_ them!" Just as the final word left him, the eyes of the sinister man winced in surprise at an unseen sight. "Kuja, you fool!" he snarled as he gestured to the ground between them, causing a magical, three-dimensional image to come forth. At a fraction of the true size, the image displayed a trio of young male teens, their enemies. The silver-haired kid was on the ground, barely conscious while Tracy, whom Kuja had an odd interest in, knelt beside him, holding his body in his arms. The other, youngest boy was ironically the most dangerous, for he was the chosen master of the Keyblade, and he was proving to be the constant thorn in the side of the darkness. He was on one knee next to his fallen friend.

"Ah!" Kuja exhaled, pleased at the sight, "The game's afoot!"

The other man, however, was not as delighted as Kuja. Through clenched teeth, he said to Kuja threateningly, with a tone louder than the loudest yell, "No more games! Your time is running out, Kuja! Must I remind you that you're not immortal _yet_?"

"I need no reminder, Magus!" he barked back rudely, "If you're so afraid that I'll expire before I can kill them, then make me immortal _now_!"

The rage faded from Magus's face, replaced with a pernicious smile. "We have a deal, friend," he said with false gentleness, "Destroy the holder of the Keyblade, and I'll prolong your life indefinitely." The friendly attitude evaporated as swiftly as it had appeared when the wizard growled, "_Not_ before!" Again, Magus's hand waved, dissipating the image on the ground. Turning towards the shadows, the magician of evil walked away, leaving behind a word of advise for Kuja.

"Move quickly."

—————

Verdant grass swayed in the wind outside of East Side Middle School as slow, white clouds drifted by overhead. The great field rested in between the middle school itself and a running track. Only two people were present in this conjured memory: Riku, still unconscious, and Tracy, to whom the memory belonged. The outsider rested on the ground, his head kept off the grass by a trapper from Tracy's backpack while Tracy sat next to him, paper and pencil out and writing on the clipboard that Tracy had obtained from his room before leaving to search for the others. Moments before, the field had been filled chaotically with middle school students, including a smaller and younger memory of Tracy Starlight. Conveniently, none of the memories of people seemed to be aware of Riku and the true Tracy, which made the experience much more enjoyable and somewhat disturbing. He was, however, glad to be left in peace when the kids were called back into the school. This gave Starlight the best opportunity he had obtained to get some writing done. With his staff and backpack placed beside him, he began to theorize.

_What are the Heartless? "Those without hearts," is the obvious answer, but I think that there's far more to them than that simple statement suggests. Of course, Ansem's Reports give me the best insight that I could hope to attain, and those writings tell that the Heartless feed off of the hearts of the living and are created from the hearts they take. They seek out the hearts of the worlds they invade; I am uncertain for what purpose. Darkness within the living hearts attract them, and since this darkness exists within all hearts, the Heartless are naturally attracted to the living. Therefore, no one can truly be safe from their appetite._

An idea, one that he had begun to ponder over back in Traverse Town, came to his thoughts, and he started to scribe his hypotheses.

_The darkness and the light are equal, or so I believe. Recent observations, however, have thrown this idea into doubt. The Heartless are creatures of the darkness; there's no denying that. If the two powers are equal and balanced in the grand scheme of the universe, then why do beings of the light — anti-Heartless, for lack of a better term — not exist? There doesn't seem to be an answer to the inquiry, but there are some possibilities. Could people themselves be anti-Heartless? If a Heartless is a being without a heart, then a being with a heart would fit the definition of "anti-Heartless." Still, most normal human beings stand little chance against a Heartless. The playing field isn't equal. If a human isn't the answer, then maybe it's something else — the holder of the Keyblade, perhaps, or the princesses of heart? The princesses have the purest of hearts, while "the heart that is strong and true will—_

The paragraph was stopped in its tracks as Riku finally began showing the first signs of consciousness. "Ugh," the sound came from him as he exhaled heavily, labored for some reason, "My... chest..."

"Pretty powerful will for just a memory," Tracy put forth, referring to Ansem, as Riku sat up, becoming aware of his severely altered surroundings. "But I've gotta feeling that you're gonna be all right."

"Tracy?" Riku muttered, focusing on him, "Where's Sora?"

_Just like you, Riku, to think of _him_ first,_ the other boy thought with a grin before telling Riku plainly, "He went to find Felicity and Zidane."

"Oh," said Riku as he turned himself to face the sitting Tracy, crossing his legs Indian-style, "Why didn't you go with him?"

"Someone needed to make sure you were safe during your nap," laughed Tracy with amusement. "Sleeping alone in Memoria isn't what I'd call wise. We have no idea what kind of Heartless live here."

"And how do we know that there are even Heartless in this world?"

"Before Zidane's world, Gaia, was destroyed by the Heartless," Tracy explained knowingly, "he and the others saw flying Heartless emerge from Memoria. After that, Gaia disappeared, but Memoria remains, evidenced by the fact that we're sitting in it right now. Given that, it stands to reason that, well... This is a world like any other."

"But," questioned Riku, "if this is a world like any other, then how did it appear inside of another?"

"Good point," Tracy submitted as he thought on the inquiry. Seconds later, it hit him. "Maybe that energy vortex that we entered... is only a _gateway_ that leads to Memoria and not the world itself."

"Gates between worlds?"

"I've seen it once before," he admitted, "There was a magical gate between the worlds of Gaia and Terra."

Riku's eyebrows furrowed in thought as he considered the knowledge that Tracy has revealed. Tracy could only imagine how strange it was for Riku to receive such information from a kid that had only been off of his world for barely even three days. Still, he knew that as far as Riku knew he gained that lore from his world's mythology and stories, which wasn't far from the truth.

"It makes sense," Riku stated at last, "I'm just having a bit of trouble taking this from someone like you."

Tracy smirked firmly, "'Like me'?"

"Well, you _are_ way different from anyone else I've ever met," Riku took his turn at explaining, "I can't really put a finger on it, though. You're really certain that you're correct, and yet I can tell that you give room to be wrong. That, and..." His voiced trailed off uncertainly.

"And...?"

Riku looked down at the still grass, telling Starlight, "That's what I can't put my finger on."

_Opportunity,_ Tracy summed up the moment with one word. The boy suddenly felt the nervousness come, the feeling that he always dreaded in moments like the one he found himself in now. While his mouth remained motionless, his mind was sent into a screaming spiral of thoughts. _The evidence that I recall about Riku seems to scream out "fruity," and yet I hesitate. Why am I hesitating? What's there to lose when there's _so_ much to gain? Just tell him, you moron! He'll have to find out _eventually_! Hell, most people know you for thirty _seconds_ before finding out you're gay! How long has it been with him, three days? Then again, most people realize it when you say they have pretty—_

In the storm of his own pondering, Tracy failed to immediately realize that a third party had arrived to intervene with their conversation. Riku was the first to give a look to the visitor. His eyes brightened with recognition when he greeted as he stood up, "Sora!"

Tracy was shoved from his internal dilemma as he, too, shifted his eyes to the imposing party and arose, taking up his staff. Just as Riku had said, it was indeed Sora, but several mental alarms went off within his mind all at once. _He's alone. Where are Felicity and Zidane? There's something different about him, too..._

The expression on Sora's countenance was vastly different from anything either Riku or Tracy had ever noted in the boy. It held an attribute of blankness, as if the lights were actually on but nobody was home. Secondly, he held the Keyblade in his hand, which alarmed Tracy because the Keyblade was almost always reserved for a conflict. _Maybe he simply came from battle,_ rationalized Tracy. Thirdly, the Keyblade was in its most basic form, the Kingdom Key. Whether that was a good omen or not was beyond Tracy's guessing.

The final detail was something that Tracy had almost missed entirely even though it was possibly the key to the entire miniature mystery. The accessory constantly around the neck of the Keyblade master was something entirely different than anything he'd seen before, and yet he recognized it in a flash. It was not the normal crown symbol he had grown so used to.

It was the symbol of the Heartless.

Emptiness was replaced with passionate ire, a sight that neither of the two boys had seen before on Sora's face, when the formerly out-of-place Keyblade was brought to bear against the duo. Operating on intuition, Tracy went into battle at the drop of a pin, using his stick with both hands to force the enemy's blade to Starlight's left. While doing this, the offending teenager released a kick at one of the pseudo-Sora's legs. Another split-second passed as the Heartless dummy lost balance, a moment that Tracy used to release a powerful elbow thrust into the face of his opponent.

The Heartless version of the Keyblade master stumbled backwards, clearly not prepared for the ferocity of Tracy Starlight's combination strike. As it hit the ground, Riku stared with wide-eyed amazement at the feat, but he knew that their foe wasn't so easily defeated. As he habitually reached for his Wing Edge, Riku was shocked for only a moment when the black Keyblade appeared in its place in his hand. However, he quickly shoved the uncomfortable feelings the weapon gave to him away when the false Sora leapt to its feet as briskly as it had fallen.

Bringing his old Keyblade ready, Riku inquired as traces of excitement crept into his voice, "What is this thing?"

_A well-informed question,_ thought Tracy faster than he could speak, _If it wasn't in perfect color, I'd say it was like those anti-Sora things from Neverland._

Before he could voice his feeling to Riku, though, the irate clone resumed the fight, rushing forth in Tracy's direction with inhuman speed, succeeding in landing a solid blow to Tracy's right side. The staff-wielding boy fell to the ground this time, an unfortunate victim of the Sonic Blade technique, leaving Riku on his feet to challenge the image of Sora.

The boy from Destiny Island wasted little time in beginning his assault, using a great leap into the sky to gain an advantage over Sora. Riku brought his blade ready for a downward slice. The two armaments, nevertheless, clanged together with a loud noise as the Heartless's horizontally-held Keyblade blocked the strike skillfully. Riku's feet touched the ground, and it quickly became a test of sheer strength between Riku and Sora. For an instant, the nearly intolerable memory of the meeting of the two Keyblades in the hall of Hollow Bastion flashed through Riku.

It was at that instant of recollection and weakness that the black-hearted Sora look-alike attacked, not with the Keyblade but with its foot. Clearly stealing a page from Tracy's fighting style, Sora landed a solid kick at Riku's left leg. As the fighter lost his balance, the shadowy figure raised the Kingdom Key to deliver a devastating attack—

—that was cut short by a shocking lightning bolt from Tracy. The being of evil was once again caught off its guard, having forgotten about Tracy temporarily. As it began to recover its senses, Riku regained himself and fired himself at the copycat. The black cutting edge of the Keyblade to the hearts crashed down onto Sora's shoulder. In a flash of darkness, Sora's double dissipated in defeat.

Peace returned to the field of grass as Riku and Tracy scanned the area for any further, nonexistent threats to themselves. For the moment, at least, the excitement seemed to be over for the couple.

"That," Tracy answered the question Riku had posed earlier, "was not a normal shadow."

"I know that, Tracy," Riku said, clearly unsettled by having to fight against such a realistic yet evil version of his old friend, "After all, I created them... Heartless that looked like Sora back in Neverland."

Tracy held back telling him that he knew about that, choosing to instead pose an educated guess. "This is Memoria, a place of memories. What if the Heartless here take the form of people from our own memories?"

Riku considered the agitating likelihood of his words. "So we could fight anyone we remember, like Sora?"

"Sora, Cloud, Maleficent, even you and me," listed Starlight. "Exciting, yet at the same time dangerous."

"And the setting doesn't seem to affect who appears," Riku put forth, "Why would Sora be here, in your town, if he's never been here?"

Tracy nodded, concurring with the assessment. "This changes things. We should go find Sora and the others now!" Picking up the trapper that Riku's head had been resting on previously as well as the clipboard, pencil, and paper he had used, he took that time to ask of Riku inquisitively, "Does that Keyblade have a name?"

Riku thought on the query, yet a part of him knew no thoughts were necessary. He answered effortlessly, surprising himself with the knowledge, "The Lockheart."

"Lockheart, eh?" Tracy echoed, genuinely interested. "Fitting name for the Keyblade that unlocks hearts, isn't it?"

"We should be going, Tracy," he reminded him, "Sora could be in big trouble."

Starlight nodded, submitting honestly, "Right, exactly."


	10. Chapter X: Limited Time

**Chapter X: Limited Time**

Riku and Tracy walked through the doorway into a long, deserted corridor of Tracy Starlight's high school. After going between memories for several minutes, the two had become used to sudden and normally impossible shifts in their setting. This one was no different, for they had previously been walking through one of Riku's memories of Monstro before entering the high school. Behind them, sunlight penetrated windows through one of the entrances to the school, while hallways extended in front of them as well as to the left and right of their position. Riku was effectively lost within the alien surroundings, but he knew that Tracy felt confident in his sense of direction. It was _his_ school, after all.

"This way," Tracy led them down the hallway to their right.

Riku followed the teen, the Lockheart in his grasp in case it was needed at any time. He looked at the walls of the hall, lined with lockers taller than he was and squeezed together tightly. They were a dark share of blue, and they seemed to suck the light from the hall as they walked. Clusters of lockers were separated by small alcoves, the homes of doors to classrooms. None of them were open, and no light came from them.

"So, this is your school?"

Tracy responded directly, "Yeah."

"Nice place," the other complimented the facility. "Too quiet, though."

Starlight let the comment slide by as he went to one of the doors. Curious and unafraid, he held the knob and turned it quickly, pulling the doorway open to peer within the room.

"Hey," came Riku's voce from the room, "aren't you guys forgetting about me?"

On the other side of the door, the waves of the ocean crashed against the beach where Sora, Riku, and Kairi were gathered. Kairi faced the two boys, and Sora was sitting down in the sand, having just awoke from a fateful nap. The image of Riku held a large log under his right arm as he stared at his two friends.

Riku's lines continued just as they had in reality, "So, I guess I'm the only one working on the raft." He stepped closer to Kairi, tossing the log into Sora jokingly. "And you're just as lazy as he is!"

"Let's get outta here, Tracy," the real Riku put forth, "We've got a job to do."

"Fine by me," he conceded, seemingly only slightly sorry to leave the interesting moment behind. He closed the door and continued through the hallway.

_So, a memory lies behind every one of these doors,_ reasoned Riku. "Maybe the right door," he spoke aloud, "leads to the others."

Tracy's eyes ran along both walls of the hall, counting the nearly myriad supply of doors. "That's a lot of doors."

"That's a lot of memories," Riku added, "but this seems like the best place to start." He paused momentarily before he told Tracy, pointing to the left wall, "You check that side of the hall, and I'll check the other one."

"Agreed." Both of them quickly went to their work, starting the long job of door-checking.

Riku opened the first door on the right wall, where a dimly-lit room awaited him. It was filled with people of vastly differing ages and sizes as many of them rolled a heavy ball down a lane trying to knock down sets of ten wooden pins at the end. Despite the fact that Riku had never seen anything quite like it, he focused himself on his task, looking for any trace of Felicity, Zidane, or Sora. Finding no one familiar except for a memory of Tracy playing the same game as the others, he started to go on, but when Tracy smacked the rear end of another, unfamiliar kid who looked just a bit older than he was, Riku's eyebrows raised in interest. Though the recipient of the slap didn't seem too thrilled with it, Tracy and his friends had a literally giggling fit at his expense. Riku, too, couldn't help but chuckle at him. _Weird kid,_ he thought to himself as he closed the door, moving on to the next.

Behind the second door for Riku to open up, one of his own memories presented itself to him: he and Sora as small children playing together on the beach, the very same beach that would years later be the building place of their raft. _That raft might as well just have belonged to Kairi and Sora,_ he thought in saddened disappointment, _All I'd do is get in their way. They don't need me when they've got each other. Even when they were planning the raft's construction, I was just... along for the ride to them._ The door shut almost instantly, bringing far too many thoughts to the young boy's mind.

When he approached the third door, however, a much deeper and more serious sense of awareness came to Riku. The door itself seemed to have a feeling of darkness overflowing out of it, though it appeared just as every other door in the hall. With reluctance, he turned the doorknob and slowly creaked it open.

The sight of another hallway greeted Riku on the other side. The walls of faded yellow stone were covered with murals and writings with meanings lost in time. At regular intervals, sconces were attached to the stone, burning with eternal flames that lit the room eerily. The place was lifeless, abandoned and deserted for a millennium.

"This is it," a disembodied voice spoke calmly, knowingly, echoing through the mural-filled hall, a voice that sent shivers down Riku's spine, "The secrets of darkness and light are here. _Everything_ is here."

_No! How is it possible?_

"With this knowledge, I will gain the powers of supreme darkness, and become all-knowing!"

"_Ansem!_" Riku shouted out uncontrollably, stumbling away from the door and slamming it shut before falling on his rear end to the ground. "Can't be... Can't..."

"Riku!" he heard Tracy yell at him, "What's wrong?" The running footfalls of his new friend resonated through the hall of memory as he neared the silver-haired fifteen-year-old. Tracy bent down over Riku with concern, asking him, "Are you all right?"

"I-I'm fine, T-Tracy," he stuttered his reply, still shaken by the voice of his internal tormentor.

_That was _not_ my memory, and it was _definitely_ not Tracy's! It was Ansem's voice, but how could one of his memories be here? Could he have left behind some of his memories before he vanished? Yeah, that has to be it! It's just a remnant, lingering on after the fact._

Tracy's eyes stared into Riku's, obviously not believing him but finding it difficult to question him about it in his shaky state. For a moment, Riku hoped that Tracy wouldn't buy his answer and force the issue further just so that he could have someone, anyone, to talk to about the strange happenings within himself, but instead, the other said instead, though diffident, "I think I know where we'll find them."

"Where?" the question came naturally from Riku.

"Just follow me!" A childishly certain smile penetrated Tracy's face as he admitted, "I'm not certain, though. Just call it a hunch."

—————

"Where to now, O fearless leader?" asked Felicity in a tone of obvious sarcasm.

Sora glanced behind him at the older girl from Madison as he said back to her, "To be honest, I have no idea." As the Keyblade holder glanced around their location, it was becoming more likely that he had never been as lost as he felt then. The chamber was like nothing that Sora had ever seen. It was a room composed of many different leveled platforms, and each of them seemed to be connected by strange teleportation devices. Gray was dominant in this place, and the only other colors were on the teleport pads, one of which was close by. Sora and Felicity knew fully that it was simply a memory, but the memory's owner remained unclear.

"I guess we could use that," Sora suggested, feigning certainty as he pointed at the nearest pad, one he knew they hadn't used before. Sora went towards it wordlessly, Felicity shrugging and following the boy, effectively rendered choiceless. As the pair stepped onto the pad, mysterious blue light surrounded them as they were transported to a platform above them.

When Felicity stepped off and glanced around the new, higher location, she dropped her jaw in amazement when she saw something that told her instantly where she and Sora had gotten themselves. "A moogle!" she screamed gleefully, pointing at one of the said creatures standing nearby. "Now I remember this place!"

Sora's interest was gained by her admission, and he questioned her immediately, "Where is this, Felicity?"

"That big place on Terra, Garland's place!" she replied before struggling with her own bad memory, "What was that name again? Pan-something..."

Before Felicity could begin to dig through the depths of her mind for the name of the castle, a massive explosion sounded from nearby, shaking the entire structure with its incredible power. Sora's senses determined that the bang's source was very close to their position, and as debris and dust made themselves present on the platform from a doorway at the end of a short walkway not far from them, he had a very good idea where it had come from.

"This way!" Sora urged her, waving to the doorway while making a swift dash in its direction. Felicity followed once more as the moogle soon went wild and flew away in fear.

Sora was the first to behold the sight that awaited them at the source of the blast. It was another platform, but this one was outdoors. The sky and everything about the strange world was a light cerulean shade except the platform that he was standing on, which was brown and black. In front of him, the path extended further until it led into a large circular stage. Still further in front of him, a red orb of light rested atop a tall stand, casting its faint glow brilliantly. Felicity and Sora, however, was not alone. Scattered about the ground, obviously in great pain, were four familiar figures: Freya, Vivi, Amarant, and Zidane. A strangely-dressed individual whose gender was a mystery to Sora was the only one standing on both legs, and behind that figure, a man in a very black suit of some sort with light gray hair was kneeling down, seeming to be in as much agony as the others.

Felicity entered only a moment after Sora, only to stop short of him as she yelled out with a blend of terror and thrilled excitement, pointing out, "Ahhh! Kuja! Tranced! Ahhh!"

"So, that's Kuja?" Sora determined, finally seeing the villain with his own eyes. In a split-second, the Ultima Weapon was readied in the Keyblade master's grasp, prepared for battle with the villainous person.

"That's enough!" said a man's voice from an unknown origin. Felicity and Sora first believed it to be Kuja, but the memory's mouth hadn't moved at all. Then, like spirits of yesterday, the Tranced Kuja, the black-suited man, Vivi, Freya, and Amarant vanished like footprints wasted away on the shore of a beach. Wasting no further time, Sora ran to Zidane's side to give him whatever help he required.

"Zidane! Are you all right?" the child asked.

"I was on... the bad end of... an Ultima," the thief retorted, his breathing labored, "Other than that... _peachy_."

"Still hurting, are we?" the same voice asked the injured hero.

With a clear anger at the speaker, Zidane shouted, "Kuja! Show yourself!"

"Very well," he replied, and in that moment, Kuja materialized where the memory of himself had been standing previously. Sora noted the vast difference between the Kuja he had seen before and the Kuja he was looking at then. Whatever this Trance thing was, Sora guessed that this Kuja wasn't in it. "So, Zidane, how _have_ you been lately? You look quite well for someone whose whole world is gone."

This evidently hit a few wrong buttons with Zidane, and he tried to stand up and bring his dual Orichalcon daggers ready, only to fall back down under his own weakness. "Why, you...!" he barely managed to cough out, "I swear, Kuja..."

"Zidane," Sora tried to calm him, "hold still!" The youth held a hand above Zidane's downed body, opening his palm and aiming it at Zidane as he spoke clearly, calling on his magic talents, "Cure!"

The restorative magic showered Zidane's body in an instant, mending the warrior's wounds with a brilliant green aura. As the light faded after a few moments, Zidane's eyes widened with energy as his strength returned. He sat up slowly, giving Sora a sincere, "Thanks, kid."

Sora's wide grin conveyed his thoughts effectively, _No problem._

Restored and rejuvenated, the man with the tail leapt gracefully up to his feet and armed himself with his daggers once again. His eyes glared at his mortal enemy with a flaming fury from his heart that was calmed only by his desire to remain in control of himself. "Kuja," he spoke with placid rage, "you destroyed my world, my friends."

"And you're going to avenge them or die trying?" Kuja sadistically suggested. "Noble, just noble!"

"Not for revenge," Zidane corrected him, "Justice! You've murdered countless lives, and you deserve what you're gonna get!"

Kuja shook his head in disappointment as he pressed Zidane forward, "And your point is...?" When Zidane's teeth visibly gritted together with passionate resentment, Kuja gave the trio a quick examination as he analyzed for Zidane insultingly, "A fifteen-year-old girl with a rod, the Keyblade Master, and you — I hope you don't actually intend on fighting _me_ with such a hopeless crew!"

_Either he's super-powerful,_ Sora told himself, _or he's in way over his head. Or both. Either way, I don't see much choice._

"So, my fine fools," Kuja spoke with mad delight, "Who will be the first to die, hmm?"

"Ummm!" Felicity fool-heartedly risked, raising her hand as if she weren't visible before, "I have a question before you start destroying and killing and ruining what might be the beginning of a _beautiful_ friendship!" Kuja remained silent, either allowing her to speak or ignoring her completely. Sora was unsure which, so the fearful lady proceeded, "Are you _really_ gay?"

"Leave it to you, Felicity, to ask such a stupid question."

Kuja's three opponents all adopted expressions of happy, welcome surprise at the friendly, joking voice of their ally. Almost in sync, they turned around and beheld the sight of Tracy and Riku, side-by-side as they appeared on the platform from nowhere.

"Riku!" Sora sounded with a smile.

"Tracy!" Felicity spoke at the same time, "Where've you been?"

With an honest look and a kidding smirk on his visage, Starlight replied innocently, "We took a wrong turn at Monstro and ended up at school."

"Well, well, well," Kuja cut into their conversation, "What a pleasant reunion of friends! This is—"

The villain's face contorted strangely as he stopped mid-sentence. Pain combined with horror and disbelief were apparent on his face as Kuja began to writhe in agony. "Wh-what...?" he breathed quietly as he fell down to one knee, holding an arm to his stomach while he continued to suffer from some unknown, internal ill. "No... Not _now_!" he told his body in vain, "Not before I'm..." Kuja looked up abruptly to Sora and the others, his silvery-white hair drifting in front of his face chaotically. Struggling to rise to his feet once again, Kuja mentally called forth a black vortex and said to his five enemies, "It's not over yet..." At last, he staggered backwards into the darkness and vanished in retreat.


	11. Chapter XI: Immortality Denied

**_Author's Notes:_** Maybe I should start posting two or three chapters at once...

This chapter brings the Memoria segment to a close, unless I decide to return here for some reason. The next world for our heroes to visit will be... Well, I shouldn't spoil it, but it'll be an interesting writing experience for me. It'll bring some of that classic Disney humor to the story, too. "Sometimes the oldest things are the tastiest," right?

* * *

**Chapter XI: Immortality Denied**

Tracy started immediately after Kuja, running past his friends as he called to them, "Guys! Let's— Whoa!"

Starlight skidded to an immediate stop when a young human male, definitely not Kuja, emerged from the black portal. Though weaponless, Tracy knew better than to consider him an ally, especially with the Heartless symbol hanging from his neck. He was dressed in normal, casual clothes that Tracy was used to seeing on him, and he stood taller than Tracy, quite slender. His features included short brown hair, eyeglasses over green pupils, and an expressionless face. For only a second, Tracy's eyes glinted in recognition of the handsome, if Heartless, teenager, but another second later, his weapon was prepared in defense.

"Xander!" Felicity cried happily, oblivious to the danger the memory of Tracy Starlight's friend and not-so-secret crush presented.

"Not Xander!" Tracy explained, "A Heartless created from our memory of Xander!"

"Tracy!" Sora yelled in warning, "Look out!"

The youth risked a brief glance behind him and spotted a small party of similar Heartless memories. He noted false images of Vivi, a friend of Felicity's that he didn't recognize, and two others that he didn't see long enough to recall before turning his attention back to the Heartless before him.

"These are Heartless?" Zidane risked to ask, having never before seen anything like these beings. "They're so—"

"They're just memories," Riku cut him off, "and they _are_ Heartless."

The quintet was effectively surrounded by the Heartless memories, and Tracy knew that the battle was plainly inevitable. He gave the Xander-Heartless a once-over look. _So real,_ he thought, _and yet filled with the power of darkness. I never thought I'd have to actually fight against anything that remotely resembled Xander. Oh, well... You can't very well choose your opponents in this line of work. Still, he is kinda cute for a memory..._

Shoving the thoughts of his miniature crush aside, Starlight centered himself on the moment, the only moment that mattered. Back from his brief trip into the realm of thought, Tracy said to his friends, getting as much enjoyment out of the moment as possible, "Let's do it!"

—————

Kuja stumbled through the darkness of the vastness that he had retreated into, the only part of Memoria that he knew of that wasn't created from any memory from anyone. Within that chamber, there was nothing, no features to give it any meaning or definition; only the blackness darker than a thousand nights pervaded the vicinity around the dying Kuja.

"_Magus!_" the man called out in desperation, seeking the aid of the only one who could help him now, "_Magus!_ Show yourself! _NOW!_"

"What a pity," the evil wizard's deceivingly peaceful voice echoed through the black void.

"Magus!" Kuja yelled once more, "Come here!"

"If only you'd lasted longer," the sorcerer continued, ignoring the frantic pleas of Kuja. "You," Magus's voice grew darker, filling slowly with hatred and disappointment, "had them in the _palm_ of your hand, as it were, and you _still_ blew it! Kuja, you truly are a pathetic fool!"

Kuja began again, "Ma—" Before he could finish the word, however, a blast of energy penetrated the darkness from an unknown source, striking Kuja powerfully and knocking the miserable villain off of his feet, sending him skidding along an unseen floor uselessly until he hit a solid, invisible wall. The vile being coughed violently, scarlet blood expectorating from his mouth as he did so.

"I told you to kill them," Magus reminded the harmless Kuja.

"Magus!" he whispered as loudly as he could, losing energy by the second, "Give me... eternal life..."

"You still do not understand, Kuja," he taunted from his hidden place in the dark, following up with malevolent laughter that echoed sinisterly throughout the pitch-black abyss, growing louder with every passing moment like Kuja's immense physical pain.

"What!" the nearly-motionless man exhaled, his face twisting with a sudden realization at the meaning behind the magician's evil words. "You mean... you...?"

The laughter died down, but only long enough for Magus to tell Kuja the horrid irony of his situation, "I _cannot_ make you immortal, even if you _did_ kill them before you died!"

Kuja wished that he could be surprised, even angry at the wizard for the trick he had played, but in his final moments, he realized what he had done wrong. He placed his trust in Magus in a deal that was far too good to be true. Magus played on Kuja's greatest desire, the wish to live on, and he allowed himself to be manipulated to satisfy the twisted wishes of a man he barely knew and didn't even like. The images of Garland entered his mind, how Kuja had served as his hand in Gaia for so many years, nothing but a pawn for the ruler of Terra. Still, Garland had never tried to control Kuja with false rewards. The same hatred that had filled his heart towards his former master was now directed with even greater intensity at Magus. What made Kuja even more irate was the fact that, if he and Magus were in opposite situations, he would have done precisely the same thing if it had suited him.

The dark wizard finally appeared before Kuja, levitating a few centimeters above the ground with his powers as he floated closer to Kuja, whose life was fading just as severely as before. "My only problem at the moment is this," he said to Kuja sadistically, "How to kill you? Should I leave you here to rot away in the darkness while your own internal fail-safe destroys you?" Magus's fang-like teeth were made visible as he smiled at the idea and continued, "Should I throw you back to the memory of Terra, where the Keyblade master and his friends await? I'm sure they would make quick work out of you. Perhaps the Heartless could give you a quick end, too?" The final fourth option brought the greatest corrupt pleasure to the great wizard as he whispered down to Kuja, "Or should I kill you myself? Your decision, Kuja."

Kuja's thoughts considered the choices given, wondering if any of them could possibly be better than the others. With a flash of inspiration, Kuja made his grave decision and struggled to regain his standing position, letting grunts and small screams of pain to leave him as he fought. "I'll take... my chances... with the Keyblade," he grunted at Magus callously. "At least then... I won't have... to look... at your putrid... face!"

The other creature of evil responded swiftly, "As you wish."

—————

The final Heartless in the form of Captain Hook finally fell under the force of Riku's Lockheart, ending the massive brawl that had taken place in the observatory of Terra. The fighters, save Felicity, who remained as disconnected with the fighting as the Heartless would allow, quickly scanned the area, and when no further memories presented themselves, Riku sighed heavily and congratulated, "Nice warm-up, guys!"

"Now let's go for the real thing!" ordered Zidane, aiming a dagger at the black vortex that luckily hadn't closed while they were fighting.

Before any of the five could move a step towards the darkness, however, the powerless form of Kuja was forced from it violently as if the darkness had spit him out like a bad drink. He rolled a few times on the hard ground before stopping against Sora's feet. The Keyblade holder leapt backwards in surprise, his weapon aimed at their white-haired foe, but he hesitated when Kuja remained still, barely breathing. As this happened, the void of the darkness disappeared quickly.

"Kuja!" called Zidane with anger and concern.

"Zi... Zidane," he mumbled, "Don't..."

Ignoring him, Zidane ran at Kuja, his daggers stopping only when Kuja failed to defend himself. Seeming unwilling to kill a defenseless man, Zidane simply stared with disbelief at Kuja. "What happened to you?" Zidane questioned.

"Before... I die," the fading Kuja offered to his would-be conquerors, "there's something... you must see..."

Tracy walked towards their fallen nemesis curiously, pressing on, "What is it?"

"The... Keyhole... of Memoria," the answer came slowly through the agony of his internal failing. With his waning power, Kuja's hand lifted up, and another portal, this time one of light, was created. "Through there," he told Tracy and the others. "Go on... and seal it... if you... so choose."

"It's a trick," Zidane determined immediately, "Don't trust him, Sora! He's nothing but—"

"We'll take him with us," Tracy offered, "If it's not a trick, then Kuja shouldn't have a problem with that, should he?"

Zidane obviously disagreed with that assessment. "He's already dying, Tracy! If it's a trick to destroy us, too, then it doesn't matter to him if he dies along with us or not!"

Riku wordlessly disrupted the conversation by taking Kuja into his arms. Without any hesitation, the kid carried Kuja with him into the light, both disappearing instantly.

The remaining heroes were as confused as ever at the sudden act on Riku's part. Tracy was the first to shrug the problem off, and he said to the others, "Someone has to follow him." With that said, he, too, stepped into the light.

—————

Whatever realm Tracy stepped into, it was obviously something that could only exist in a place like Memoria. There didn't seem to be a visible floor, but Tracy and Riku walked just as well as if there was one. All around the two teens and Kuja, memories from all over their lives swirled in a chaotic sea of recollection. The different times flashed for two or three seconds before fading away and being replaced with more moments from their pasts. Tracy could make out many different events, such as Sora's final showdown with Ansem, Tracy walking along a road in winter, Riku racing against Sora on their island, and Bahamut's attack at the Iifa Tree on Gaia. These and other flashbacks surrounded the trio before Sora, Zidane, and Felicity entered the memory repository. When the other three came into the room, the swirls abruptly shifted, now displaying moments from the pasts of all six of the chamber's occupants.

"The Keyhole is _here_?" Felicity asked no one in particular, "Weird!"

Kuja strained to say, "This... is the true... Memoria. The Keyhole is... ahead."

Just as the words left Kuja, the swooshing recollections began to combine in front of them, just as Kuja had said. The five explorers of the worlds ran towards the new object, which seemed to be a condensed version of the memories around them. However, these flashes of remembrance all held one common theme.

"Wow!" Sora uttered in amazement, "It's every Keyhole I've ever sealed!" The analysis of the youth was truly correct. The Keyholes of every world that Tracy knew of, including Deep Jungle, Agrabah, Neverland, and Hollow Bastion, were before them, occupying the same spot, seeming to switch every half-second and be replaced with another Keyhole.

Kuja stirred in Riku's arms briefly. "Zidane... You're right... I do deserve... what I'm gonna get."

Zidane's eyes met with Kuja's, stricken speechless by the other's admission of guilt.

Kuja's eyes stared back at Zidane with a renewed purpose and meaning. The darkness that had once been there seemed to be overshadowed by whatever new force had possessed the heart of the expiring mortal. "Everything... I did... was to extend... my own life," he spoke, labored and guilt-filled, "and yet... I never knew what it meant... to _truly_ live... until now... I guess I was too late."

At long last, Kuja's final breath left his body, his arms fell limp, and his eyes lost the slight sparkle of life that they had formerly possessed. The former villain's head fell backwards, hanging lifelessly over Riku's arm. The party noticed that the swirls once again shifted, and their enemy's memories were instantly removed from the vortex of the past. Kuja, the man that had single-handedly brought chaos and destruction unto Gaia, was truly and finally dead.

The archenemy of the deceased walked slowly over to his shell and looked upon his face morbidly. With mixed emotions fighting within him, Zidane moved his hand over Kuja's eyes, closing his eyelids. He then took the body from Riku's arms. That act done, Zidane turned away from the group and spoke quietly, "I'm done here. After we leave this place, Sora, can you take me back to Traverse Town?"

"S-sure, Zidane," Sora granted.

"Thank you."

Tracy looked at Kuja's broken, worn-out shell silently as Zidane walked away with it. _So, he turned good in the end after all,_ the teenager thought, _Some things never change._

"Sora," Riku told him, glad to be rid of Kuja's body, "seal the Keyhole, and let's get outta here."

"Right!" With a flick of his wrist, Sora called forth the magical Keyblade. With a quick swipe in the air before him, the master of the weapon aimed it at the keyhole-shaped opening skillfully. The tip of the Keyblade began to glow with spinning energy before a thin, needle-like beam of magic power ejected from the key, entering the Keyhole as it had done so many times before. The opening began to glow with power before the welcome sound of something locking echoed from the Keyhole. As the operation finished, though, something unexpected yet not completely uncommon occurred. Out from the sealed Keyhole, a small gummi piece fell and bounced a few times on the invisible ground.

Tracy saw the piece fall and took an educated guess. "A navi-gummi piece, right?"

"Right," Sora said as he took the piece and pocketed it, "The other piece'll be out there somewhere, too."

Felicity boomed with confidence, "Then we'll find it and see even more worlds!"

"Well, what're we waiting for, then?" Riku joined them with as much happiness as he could conjure.

—————

"It seems," Magus summarized for his guest in the main chamber of his castle, "that Kuja was not as attuned to the darkness as he made himself out to be."

The magician turned to face his visitor, clad in clothing that appeared to mask the true nature of the darkness in his heart. He wore light tan boots and slightly torn dark blue jeans complete with a belt, to which was attached a holster for the man's gun. His shirt was dark scarlet, and he had a light red bandanna around the lower part of his face like a makeshift mask. His messy black hair topped his head and went down the sides and back of his head, while a black headband kept the stray hair from interfering with his sight. His eyes were a dark shade of brown, and they observed Magus intently.

"By the way," added the dark man, "I like your rather interesting outfit."

The stranger shrugged absently, obviously concerned with other things. "It's the style where I've made my home these past few years."

"And what a style, Vincent," Magus complimented sincerely before returning to business. "I assume that you're ready for the Keyblade master?"

"If they're seeking to seal the Keyholes," Vincent replied, "they'll have to find me eventually, and when they arrive, I'll be ready for them." As if to show his prepared state, he drew his gun quickly, twirling it in his hand with the skill of an expert gunman before placing it back in its holster.

"It will take more than that little thing to destroy them," Magus warned him, "but you know that already."

"I never miss my mark," he shot back at Magus, "and I'll prove it soon enough."


	12. Chapter XII: Snuff Out the Light

**_Author's Notes:_** I do not own the song entitled "Snuff Out the Light," and if the integration of the song into the story isn't too good, then you can blame me, since it's the first time I've ever done anything quite like it.

* * *

**Chapter XII: Snuff Out the Light**

The _Excalibur_ flew through interspace, carrying its passengers to another new world. Though the gummi ship was an upgraded model of the _Kingdom_-class, with better weapons and armor, Sora overlooked the engines during its construction. The _Excalibur_ could take a lot of damage, but it wasn't the fastest thing in the stars. This proved good for to Tracy Starlight, who took advantage of the slow speed to write.

Sora had executed Zidane's request and dropped him off back at Traverse Town, leaving himself, Riku, Tracy, and Felicity to counter the threat of the Heartless on their own. The worldless thief felt that he should be with his friends during this crisis and leave the Keyhole sealing to the professionals. In addition, he told them that the reason he went with them in the first place was to meet up with Kuja one last time, who he had the greatest feeling had still been alive. His mission, however badly it might have ended, was fulfilled.

Tracy stared at the blank paper before him, tapping his pencil against it in thought. What question could he try to answer this time around? His eyes drifted away from the blank sheet to rest upon Riku, sitting next to him behind the piloting Sora.

_Riku and myself,_ thought Tracy, _What a concept..._

When the glancing child noticed that Riku was holding the Lockheart in his hand, however, another thought came to Tracy. "Riku," he asked politely, "may I see your Keyblade?"

"Sure," he responded kindly, handing the Keyblade to him handle-first.

"Thanks," Starlight sent back before he began to examine the weapon curiously. As the idea came to him, he placed the Lockheart down, leaning it against the seat next to him as he proceeded to write down his pondering.

_What exactly is the Keyblade? Actually, I should say "Keyblades", for there are two of them known to exist. The first, most important such weapon is the one that Sora holds in his power, the Keyblade that locks and unlocks the doors to the hearts of worlds among other things. That one is quite a curious force. The Keyblade chooses its master, which implies some form of consciousness or mind behind its power. Could it have a heart, as well? The fact that the Keyblade can change hands is peculiar. From Sora to Riku to Sora again — despite the darkness that had infected Riku's heart and mind, the Keyblade went to him all the same. "The heart that is strong and true will win the Keyblade," Ansem said to Riku. The darkness and light have no hold over the Keyblade; it is simply a tool for good or for evil. Which one depends on the heart. This so determined, it could very well be a force of peace _or_ destruction, just as the legends state._

_A second Keyblade presents another mystery. When Ansem possessed Riku's heart and body, another Keyblade came into being, a Keyblade with the power to unlock people's hearts. That Keyblade, called the Lockheart, was created from the hearts of six princesses of heart, and it must've been made for the soul purpose of releasing Kairi, the missing seventh princess, from within Sora. Riku — or Ansem... or both? — put the Lockheart to another use, however, when he unlocked the power within Maleficent's heart. This shows that the Lockheart can unlock more than what it was made to open. When Sora used the weapon against himself to release Kairi, the Lockheart was destroyed, having fulfilled its purpose, and the power returned to the princesses. The mystery is this: I am looking at that Keyblade even as I write. If it was created for that purpose alone from a source that is no longer practical, then why does it exist now? I wish that I could believe that the power of Memoria made the Lockheart real from Riku's memory of it, but something inside me says that there's more to it than that. Is there another heart out there that needs to be unlocked? If so, then I hope that we can find it in time._

"We're coming up on the next world, guys," Sora announced to the passengers.

—————

"They're coming here," Magus told Yzma as she paced about her hidden laboratory, "and you've failed to both kill that emperor of yours and find the Keyhole."

The old woman glared angrily at Magus, the wrinkles on her aged face seeming to grow red with her mood. "I'm working on it!" she said to Magus with forced relaxation, "The Heartless are looking now, and they'll kill off the emperor all in due time."

"Your poison didn't seem to help," Magus commented, "Unless you consider being turned into a llama dead, I'd say that we need to talk about your vocabulary."

"_That,_" she snarled, "was an honest error, and it will be corrected soon, Magus. Quite soon."

"I hope so, Yzma, for your sake," Magus coldly spoke, "Kuja failed in his assignment, and look what happened to _him_."

Yzma's ancient eyes glared intently at the sorcerer, sensing a hidden implication. "Are you doubting _my_ darkness?"

Magus returned her look, stating the lesson simply, "Within every heart, there is darkness. Within every heart, there is light. Don't let the light shine too brightly, or you, too, may fall into it, just like Kuja."

"My, my, Magus," she giggled at him girlishly, "You're underestimating me. Allow me to demonstrate!"

What little light that there was in the room was extinguished for a brief second before a spotlight activated, shining upon Yzma like she was on a performing stage. She had her back turned to Magus as she began her soliloquy, her voice halfway between speaking and singing, "When a woman acquires a certain age and the men who adored you no longer swoon, it pays to avoid the sunlit days and live by the light of the kindly moon, but the moon grows old, just like us all, and her beautiful years are done. So now she prays through endless days to take her revenge on the sun!"

From the darkness that existed outside the spotlight, a band joined into the song, adding a definite rhythm to the moment before the old woman went on into her lively tune.

"When I was a girl at my daddy's side,  
Papa, the royal mortician,  
Revealed to me in secret signs  
The mark of a magician,

"And Daddy was no dummy.  
Did _outrageous_ things with a mummy!  
And often the stiffs that he would shrive  
Would look better dead than they did alive!"

The music began to pick up as even more instruments joined in the performance, adding to the experience of Yzma's enjoyment of the act of breaking into sudden song.

"I studied well, I learnt the trade.  
I thought my looks would never fade.  
If I could find that recipe  
To give eternal youth to me!

"It was always my ambition  
To use Papa's tuition  
And gain some small remission  
From the vagaries of time.

"Every little ray of sunshine robs me of my youth.  
Who to blame?  
Who the one?  
Who to curse?  
You know the only one to blame  
Would be my enemy the Sun!"

A choir joined Yzma in the fitting refrain, one that she knew would definitely appeal to Magus, who was surprising tapping his foot to the rhythm Yzma had started.

"Snuff out the light!  
Claim your right  
To a world of darkness!  
Snuff out the light,  
Neophytes  
Of a world of darkness!"

Yzma leapt towards Magus, her one-man audience, and she began to encircle him as she began the next verse.

"Magus, baby, turn me on!  
Every wrinkle soon be gone!  
I could _squeeze_ myself with glee.  
The promises you made to me.

"I've really stopped at nothing —   
Murder, treachery, and lying.  
Whatever it takes to keep my looks.  
You really can't blame a girl for trying.

"Snuff out the light!  
Claim your right  
To a world of darkness!  
Snuff out the light,  
Neophytes  
Of a world of darkness!"

The lyrics broke off, allowing for an instrumental moment, one that Yzma took to begin a strange dance with a clearly unprepared and definitely unwilling Magus. The odd couple danced across the floor, Yzma trying to keep the rhythm while Magus simply tried to remain standing. Eventually, though, the time came for the words to come again, and Yzma literally threw Magus out of the way as she began once more.

"Snuff out the light!  
Claim your right  
To a world of darkness!  
Sniff out the light  
Here _tonight_!"

The deranged woman held the last word out on the same note as the choir then took the main attraction.

"Apparitions of eternal darkness  
Spiraling in circles through the night,  
Creatures of beguiling blackness  
No more squinting in the light!"

The star performer then joined with her subordinate singers as the song neared its grand finale.

"Bats and owls and coiled sea dragons,  
Crocodile and carrion beast,  
Swirling in the growing darkness,  
Join us in the coming feast!

"Specter, wraith, and apparition,  
Spirit, demon, phantom, shade,  
Salamander serpents, dog-faced devils,  
Dance and watch the _dying sunlight fade!_"

—————

Nighttime settled onto the village on the great hill as the stars assumed their nightly patterns in the heavens, second in their brightness only to the brilliant moon. Grass swayed gently, moved by the faint howls of the wind as it traveled across the land. Lights shined through the windows of some houses, most notably the house at the hill's apex. The peaceful village, though outwardly calm, held a subtle feeling of fear. Not a soul stirred within the houses; no person was visible when Sora and his party walked up the hill of this new world.

"Look familiar?" Riku asked Tracy in a whisper.

"I think so," he told Riku uncertainly, "I feel that I should remember this place, but..." He shrugged in brief agitation, the facts within his head out of reach at the time. "Sorry."

The group of four continued their trip to the top of the hill, still not encountering anyone; neither human nor Heartless interfered with their progress.

_This place _is_ familiar,_ Tracy told himself, _It makes me wish I'd watched more Disney movies before I left._

"Hey, you guys!" the sound of a man's voice called from ahead of them as a large, heavily-built character emerged from the house atop the hill. He wore a large verdant poncho with brown shorts and a white shirt on underneath. His head was topped with a brown cloth fixed in the shape of a hat. "Who're you?" he asked the otherworldly visitors as he approached them slowly.

"My name's Sora," the youngest boy introduced before gesturing to his friends respectively, "There's Riku, Tracy, and Felicity."

The heavy man gave the strangers a cursory glance. "I'm Pacha," he identified himself, "the village leader. For a moment there, I thought you guys might've been those Heartless demons."

_So, the Heartless are here, too? We're always a step behind._

"They're here?" Felicity asked in fear.

Riku jumped in, "Where are they?"

"No one's really sure where they are," Pacha explained to the outsiders, "They just seem to appear whenever they want and cause all kinda of trouble. Some who've seen them say they're looking for something."

_The Keyhole,_ guessed Tracy smartly to himself.

Before any further knowledge could be conveyed, though, a startling scream sounded from behind the house. Pacha whirled around speedily to face the general direction. He seemed to recognize the fear-filled voice, and he yelled back to it, "Kuzco!"

_Familiar name?_ struggled Tracy in his mind, _Where is that from?_

When Pacha began his sprint towards the backyard of his house, Sora started after him heroically. "Guys! We should help him!" he told Tracy and Riku, "Let's go!"

The local villager led Sora and the others to the yard behind Pacha's house, where a slightly comical sight greeted them. An adult llama with fine brown hair and a strange awareness in his eyes was surrounded by three other llamas. The offending animals' however, were certainly not normal creatures. They were mostly pitch black, and the only color was the red Heartless symbol on their long necks. The eyes of the animals were glowing with a pale yellow light.

"Ahh!" yelled Felicity as she saw their opponents, "Heartless _llamas_!"

Sora moved instantly, hurling his Keyblade from his distant location at one of the Heartless creatures. Riku and Tracy, though, chose a more direct approach, charging into a run at their opponents. Sora's Ultima Weapon flew with great speed, twirling like a discus through the air and striking against the head of one of the black animals and knocking the thing away from the normal llama. While this went on, Pacha and Felicity went to a safe distancec and watched as the three teenage boys went to work on the Heartless.

Sora regained his flying blade and leapt into the fray with his two friends. Tracy's staff moved with fatal accuracy, twirling in between his fingers as it hit the bodies and necks of the Heartless with repeated attacks. Riku seemed to take a brief back seat to Tracy, who performed most of the attacks for that time. After giving the innocent llama time enough to retreat away from the yard-turned-battle zone, Riku, Sora, and Tracy, now standing back-to-back-to-back, unspokenly split their efforts, each one sparring one-to-one with a Heartless nemesis.

Tracy's Heartless stared at him coldly before launching a peculiar attack, spitting a ball of flame at him. Without time to knock it away, Tracy shielded his face with his hands and his staff. The stick provided most of the protection, and it magically absorbed the majority of the flame. Temporarily surprised, Tracy decided to press the offensive, testing his magical ability by casting a wide-reaching Blizzaga at the llama by raising the rod over his right shoulder and swinging it downward like a sword. The blasts of coldness launched from the rod immediately, landing a solid blow to the Heartless. Dazed for the moment, the Heartless stumbled back with its four legs. Starlight brought it to a swift end with a fast blow to its head. Like any other Heartless, it vanished upon its defeat.

With the adrenaline rushing through him, Tracy's eyes zoomed about the area, looking for any more foes to annihilate, but it seemed that Sora and Riku were equally quick in dispatching their own offenders, and the area was clear of threats. "Darn," he mumbled.

"Wow!" Pacha shouted at the trinity, "You're really good! I've never seen anyone get rid of them that quickly!"

The llama that they had saved from the Heartless stood next to Pacha, looking up at him with something that resembled a grin. "I could've taken them out _myself_, ya know!"

"Talking llama," Riku examined, as if it were an everyday sight.

The sight of the human-like llama finally brought the truth about the world into Tracy's memory. "Now I remember this place!" he whispered to Riku and Sora. "That llama is the ruler of the kingdom! His name is... Uhm... What was his name?"

"_Kuzco!_" Theme Song Guy sang loudly as he popped out of a nearby barrel before dropping back into it.

Tracy and Felicity glared at the barrel with mixed feelings of amusement and confusion.

"Well," Pacha went on to say with gratitude, "since you seem to like the Heartless as much as the rest of us, you guys're free to spend the night here in my house. It's gettin' late, and we'll have a lot to talk about, so get some rest, and we'll talk things over in the morning when we head back to the palace."

Sora smiled at Pacha's generosity and agreed, "Sounds good! How 'bout it, Riku, Tracy?"

"No problem," Riku said, his thoughts elsewhere, looking to the night sky.

"Let's get some rest, then," Tracy concurred confidently. "Tomorrow's another day, I guess."


	13. Chapter XIII: Beneath the Stars

**_Author's Notes:_** I do not own "Misty's Song." If I did, it wouldn't be associated with the series that it _is_ associated with. This chapter will be song fic-esque, utilizing the lyrics of the said song. The song actually won't start until later in the chapter, though. I wonder... Could it thus be called a song chapter?

I just can't make anything easy when I write, can I? Oh, well... This one's for those die-hard fans who've actually made it this far into the story waiting to see some kind of action between Tracy and Riku! I know there's at least _one_! Enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter XIII: Beneath the Stars**

_Yeah,_ thought Tracy, _Like I can get any sleep._

Tracy Starlight stepped outside into the starlight of the night, carrying his clipboard, paper, and pencil. The cloudless night sky greeted him, and his eyes welcomed the calming sight of the sky. Never before had it seemed so calm and peaceful, yet so alien at the same time. It was the sky of another world, and though it was so much like his own world, it wasn't, and looking at the twinkling stars made him realized that fact. He wouldn't be going home, no matter how much he wanted to _or_ didn't want to.

Away from the heavens, the peaceful world was enshrouded in the splendor of the dark night. Creatures of the night, owls and crickets and such, sounded throughout the vicinity, adding to the natural setting with their calls. Their sounds were far more calming than the most silent silence, and Tracy stepped further into the outdoors, allowing the night to surround him entirely. The rolling hills expanded in front of him, covered with blades of grass that moved in unison as the wind played against them. The entire scene was like something from a picturesque dream, and Tracy never wished to awaken from it.

"This is actually real," Starlight reminded himself, "Another world, another sky, another life — my reality was never this interesting or beautiful." The youth continued walking aimlessly towards the hills, wondering why he even decided to bring his writing items. Whenever he was in a setting like this, he could never concentrate on anything except the surrounding beauty. Every unwelcome thought left him, every trouble drifted away like water down a river until it was too distant to be recognized. The Heartless, the Keyblades, the darkness and the light — every problem, every question that his mind pondered over ever since his adventure had begun scattered and dissipated as he walked deeper into the temporary high, the harmless intoxication of natural peace.

Peace, however, was something that was often short-lived with Tracy Tobias Starlight, and he feared the end of it. When his wandering eyes caught sight of another person, he thought that his recess from his reality had been broken. Much to his surprise, though, he discovered that it was not.

Riku laid down on the hillside, several meters away from him. The handsome youth watched the drifting stars with an almost child-like interest as his body was at rest amidst the surrounding grass. Riku's presence didn't disrupt the calm of Tracy's thoughts, and he suddenly found himself spying on the fifteen-year-old from a distance, maintaining a dead silence so he didn't disturb the boy.

As quietly as Starlight could allow himself to be, he sat himself down on the hill, keeping his eyes on the young boy nearby. The equipment he had brought with him proved useful and with the light of the shining stars and moon as his only light source, he put the mechanical pencil to work.

_Though I've known about Riku for several months now, I've only recently met the real boy. Every physical feature that he had in _Kingdom Hearts_, he has kept in perfect beauty and detail. If I were talking to someone on this subject, I would say only this, "He is one _hot, fruity hunk!_" Of course, I'd never say _that_ here, in this writing. I've had about four days to get to know him beyond what I already know from my gaming, but I'm afraid to report minimal success. However, I have seen a few instances of regret and painful remembrance of his actions when he was with the side of darkness. He also possesses an abhorrent feeling when it comes to anything pertaining to Ansem. I can only speculate what Riku went through while he and Ansem shared his body. Just recently, when we were in Memoria, he was forced to relive a memory from Hollow Bastion, the moment when Sora confronted him over Kairi's heart. That clearly left lasting scars on the boy's heart, no matter how much he might try to cover them up._

_The question presents itself as to Riku's sexuality. It is the belief of this not-so-straight-minded individual that he has strong, romantic feelings for Sora. Whether he's conscious of them or not, I think that they're there. To my displeasure, I've been unable to confirm this beyond a shadow of a doubt. It's one thing to watch and observe, as I have always done before, but it's another thing entirely to simply ask Riku, "Are you gay?" I can only say that he thinks I have pretty eyes, and even that might have been a joke born of a confused mind. In any—_

"So, how much more are you going to write about me, Tracy?" Riku asked him from afar, keeping his eyes to the stars.

"I figure I'd get in at least two pages before I think about stopping," Tracy retorted with good, playful humor in his voice. He then asked, in all seriousness, "How'd you know?"

"One," he listed, "you write loudly, and you have to click that mechanical pencil of yours to get more lead, so you're not exactly quiet. Two, only you write _that_ much. Three, I actually wasn't sure that you were writing about me until now."

_It seems that,_ Tracy told himself mentally, _in observing Riku, I failed to realize that _I_ was being observed. Ironic, is it not?_

"Why don't you just ask me if you can sit next to me?" the other boy asked Tracy. "I don't bite."

"You don't bite," Tracy joked, "but you swing a mean Keyblade!"

The two boys shared a mutual laugh underneath the starlight as Tracy stood up and started towards Riku briskly, accepting the friendly invitation.

—————

_Out here in the quiet of the night,  
Beneath the stars and moon  
We both know we've got something on our minds  
We won't admit, but it's true_

_You look at me, I look away_

—————

_What is it with this guy?_ Riku asked himself. _I swear, there's something about him that I'm just not getting._

Tracy dropped down next to Riku, laying himself out beside the boy with silver hair. "It's a wonderful night, isn't it?" asked Tracy.

"Brilliant," Riku agreed with him, "It reminds me of the sky back on my island." He sighed contentedly before he told Tracy, "There were nights on that island when I'd just get out of bed in the middle of the night and just stare at the stars. I've lost track of how many times I did that. Sometimes, when we were really young, Sora and I'd make plans to get together on nights like this one, and we'd just lay ourselves out like this and use the stars for a game of connect-the-dots." Riku laughed at himself as he realized what he was talking about, and Tracy joined in briefly before he finished, "I must sound so stupid."

Tracy made himself stop chuckling long enough to reassure his friend, "No, Riku, you don't. I like hearing stories like that, ya know. I think it's... sweet."

"'Sweet'?" the other echoed back at him. "I guess that's a nice word for it."

"What other words are there?"

"Childish," answered Riku, "foolish, history — my stargazing days with Sora are long gone. They've been gone ever since—"

"—Kairi came into our lives," Tracy and Riku finished together.

Riku's cerulean eyes looked over at the knowledgeable Tracy, muttering with a small smirk, "Know-it-all. Is there anything you don't know."

"Maybe," replied Tracy, happily giggling afterwards, "I'm not exactly omniscient, ya know. Besides, there's a question that's been gnawing on my nerves ever since I learned that the stories in my town were true."

Riku's interest was caught by this sudden revelation on the part of Tracy Starlight. "And that is?" Riku asked inquiringly.

—————

_I wanna tell you what I'm feeling, but I don't know how to start  
I wanna tell you, but now I'm afraid that you might break my heart  
Oh, why should anything so easy, ever be so hard to do?  
I wanna tell you what I'm feeling, and to sat that, I love you._

—————

_This is it,_ Tracy resolved, _Here's the chance._ He took a deep breath and prepared for the worst and the best. "Sora," Tracy spoke softly, almost like he was afraid of being overheard, "do you love... him?"

Riku paused himself for a second, most likely unprepared for such a ridiculous question. "Sora?" he repeated, "Do I love him? Of course I do; he's my best friend!"

_Why am I not surprised?_ Starlight's thoughts resonated through his brain. "I'm not saying it like that," he explained, "I mean... romantically. Do you... _love_... him?"

Again, Riku stopped, but his face took on a much more thought-filled expression than before as he seriously considered the possibility. _That's a good sign if he has to think about it,_ Tracy thought.

"Do I _love_ him?" Riku said back at Starlight, "Wouldn't that be... weird?"

Tracy grinned widely at Riku. After four days, he was finally making true, impressive _progress_ with his work. "It's only weird if you don't want it," he said in reply, "There aren't many people in the world who give and receive comfort and pleasure from the love of another guy like them."

"There aren't?" Riku uttered, his tone sounding discouraged.

Tracy shook his head, trying to uplift the sudden depression that had set in. "Don't give me that tone, Riku! _We're_ more common than they'd have us believe." When Riku's lovely blue eyes suddenly lit up with what Tracy believed to be new hope inspired, hopefully, by the emphasis on "we're", Tracy's mind began to race once again in preparation for the next phase.

—————

_I practice all the things that I could say,  
Line by line, every word  
I tell myself today could be the day,  
But every time, I lose my nerve_

_I look at you, you look away_

—————

The single word opened a door into a whole new world more effectively than the strongest Keyblade, "'We'?"

"The word we," Tracy explained coolly, "is a pronoun that refers to oneself in addition—"

"I know that it means!" Riku couldn't help but snicker at his kidding friend, "but does that mean that... you're...?"

Tracy looked up at the sky, to distant worlds and stars. "I guess they don't have a word for it where you come from, do they?"

Riku shook his head negatively. _Actually,_ Riku told himself, _I never really considered the prospect that there could be a guy out there who has romantic interest in guys. Now that I think on it, I always tried my best to _not_ think about it. Sora was just someone who I cared about more than anyone, and I love him deeply, in spite of his love for Kairi._

"Well, where I come from, at least," Tracy told Riku helpfully, "we call people with... those desires... gay. Well, there are more words for it, but that's the most commonly used one."

"So..." Riku determined with uncertainty in his voice, "I'm gay?"

Tracy chuckled at Riku childishly, nodding, "Well, that's really not for me to determine. It's up to you to find out. I can't really tell you if you're gay or not, but..."

"But...?"

"I can," the other boy hesitated as he looked at Riku, staring at him with all the caring seriousness that he could possibly have inside of him, "help you if you want."

—————

_I wanna tell you what I'm feeling, but I don't know how to start  
I wanna tell you, but now I'm afraid that you might break my heart  
Oh, why should anything so easy, ever be so hard to do?  
I wanna tell you what I'm feeling, and to sat that, I love you._

—————

_It's like talking to a ten-year-old,_ Tracy analyzed the situation in exaggeration. Tracy had never before had a conversation like this with anyone who was actually willing to take that first step. Now that he was finally there, however, he didn't know where to begin. _The basics seem to be the best place._ Immediately, he moved his right hand to Riku's opposite one and held it delicately, taking some comfort from the feeling of another's warmth against his own, even if it was only a hand. It was moments like this that made him feel glad to be gay.

Riku looked at the joining of his hand with Tracy's in curiosity. He squeezed his fingers against Tracy's, and the other responded similarly. The blue eyes then traveled up Tracy's right arm, where a sleeve would've been if his overshirt was in perfect condition. The glance went over Starlight's shoulder and neck and ended with his dark, grass-colored eyes, looking comfortably at Riku, savoring the contact between the two.

"What's this called?" Riku inquired innocently.

Tracy closed his eyes and shook his head, telling him in reply, "Holding hands, Riku. It's called holding hands."

"Oh," the other voiced in realization, "I must've forgotten. So, is this helping?"

"Do you feel uncomfortable?"

Riku told Tracy, "No."

"Then it's helping."

_Step two,_ Tracy thought with mild glee. Without warning, Tracy moved himself along the ground, bringing his body in direct contact with Riku's. The more enlightened gay teenager placed Riku's and his hand on his leg as he rested his head on Riku's cozy shoulder. Before closing his eyes, Tracy Starlight gave the starry sky one brief glance.

—————

_Why?  
Why do you turn away  
It must be, you're afraid like me  
I try, but I can't pretend that I  
Don't feel for you the way I do  
Can't you see_

—————

Riku's eyes turned towards the sky as he remembered the nights from long before, when he and Sora had stargazed and wandered about other worlds, far-away places beyond their wildest dreams. Tracy's closeness to him brought to him exactly what had been missing from those nights of the past: comfort. _Sora wouldn't want that,_ he told himself, _and I'm stupid to want him. I shouldn't keep thinking about him, but I can't just give up on him like that. Then again, would I really be giving up? He is my best friend, and that'll never change. He's happy with Kairi, and I can be happy with someone else... Maybe someone like Tracy?_

"Uncomfortable yet?" whispered Tracy quietly.

Riku dropped his sights from the stars and focused on Tracy, who looked like he could easily fall asleep in his current position. "Tracy," he spoke, trying to find the words inside, but he only managed to say, "Not at all."

"Good," Tracy smiled, "because I've never been more comfortable in my entire fifteen-year year life." He took his hand from Riku's and wrapped it around the other teen's shoulder. Responding to the movement, Riku brought his left hand up to his right shoulder, placing their two hands together again. Lastly, Riku let his head drop to the side, resting on Tracy's lazily as the stars drifted by in the heavens, either totally unaware of the couple or watching them with the greatest of interest. After the longest time, Riku's heart was finally at peace with himself; the past was where it should be, and the moment was embraced by two hearts with one wish.

—————

_I wanna tell you what I'm feeling, but I don't know how to start  
I wanna tell you, but now I'm afraid that you might break my heart  
Oh, why should anything so easy, ever be so hard to do?  
I wanna tell you what I'm feeling, and to sat that, I love you..._


	14. Chapter XIV: Dark Designs

**_Author's Notes:_** I must be having an off-night... Luckily, the odds are very good that only one person's made it this far, so... On with the show!

Many thanks to Cynthia Chen for pointing out the "Tract" error.

* * *

**Chapter XIV: Dark Designs**

The echo of Sora's footsteps resonated through the void, lit only by the circular, stained glass stage that he walked on. An image of Alice from Wonderland decorated the circle, and red hearts with black spades lined the periphery of the stage. Beyond the well-lit circle, nothing was visible to Sora. Though it had been over one month ago, he recalled his previous experience with this type of environment and prepared himself for whatever was needed.

_"So much to do,"_ a voice, familiar to Sora, sounded within his head, _"So little time."_

"What is this about?" Sora called aloud into the blackness loudly, "Who are you?"

The mysterious force behind the young boy's dreams ignored his inquiry, instead proceeding to tell him, _"Nearby, in the far distance, destiny awaits. The door to the light remains enshrouded in the darkness. You will be the ones to open it."_

"The door to the light?" Sora's voice echoed, "The _ones_ to open it? But didn't I open it already? I don't understand."

_"Some will never understand,"_ the strange words came to Sora's thoughts, _"while others may consider it mere child's play."_ As the dreamer thought on the cryptic statement, he heard mentally, _"The Keyblade Trinity will unseal the door. Bring them together, the Keyblades and their masters, and release purest light."_

"A Keyblade Trinity?" Sora repeated inquiringly, "A _third_ Keyblade?"

_"You will release the third Keyblade. Believe in yourself, your heart, and your friends, and you'll not fail."_

—————

The throne room of Emperor Kuzco was darkened and sealed, allowing for Yzma, now ruling after the emperor's untimely "death", to converse privately with her guest, Magus, who held with him unwelcome news.

"They arrived in the middle of the night last night," the wizard told Yzma, "It seems that your Emperor Kuzco has enlisted their aid in retaking his kingdom from your clutches."

"And _how_," the old witch sent back to Magus, her fingers pressing against each other absently as she spoke, "do you know this?"

"I have eyes," he shot back calmly, "When the Heartless are around, Keyblades aren't exactly easy to hide."

Yzma's eyeballs bulged noticeably as she growled at the powerful magician, "Then tell me where they are!"

"I have a better idea," suggested Magus, "If the Keyblade master intends to take back Kuzco's kingdom, then he'll have to come here," he gestured to the throne room around him, "and that's when you capture them."

"Capture?" the doubting Yzma nearly shouted, "Capture? Why—"

"It's not your concern, Yzma," he said to her coldly, "It's come to my attention that I may require them to be _alive_ for what I have planned." Magus's hand pointed to the floor in front of Yzma, which conjured a magical image of the three teenage boys and the girl that traveled with them. "That's them," he said, "Get a good look at them. I'll need all of them." The evil master seemed to think twice about it momentarily. "Then again, the girl is expendable, but those boys, I need alive."

Yzma examined the 3D picture closely, eyeing the teenage girl oddly. "So, I can kill that girl off?"

"If it suits your fancy," Magus answered with a sinister grin.

"I don't think so," the lady thought again, "She might be useful to me."

"Don't fail, Yzma," commanded Magus, "Bring them to me, and I'll make sure you're handsomely rewarded."

—————

"You're staying here, Felicity!" Tracy told her for the fifth time as he walked out of Pacha's house into the daylight of a fresh summer morning to meet with Riku and the others. "We're heading to Kuzco's Palace, and if what we've heard so far is accurate, that's the local Heartless grand station! It's way too dangerous!"

Felicity countered, "Every world is dangerous, Tracy! If it's so dangerous, then why're you going?"

"Because I have this." He held up his staff surely.

"And I have this!" Felicity showed off the Wizard Rod she had received from Zidane days before.

Tracy thought about the logic of her argument, plotting a way to dissuade Felicity from accompanying them. "Ah!" he finally spoke, "But can you do this?" With a swing of his weapon in a direction clear of obstructions, Tracy launched a powerful fireball off harmlessly into the distance, which dissipated before doing any serious harm to anyone or anything.

"Whore!" she snarled at Tracy Starlight, finding no other way of ending the argument.

"Queer," the other said back plainly.

"Lesbian!"

"Orthicon."

"Querulous!"

"Custard pastry in a vase."

"Evil bastard!"

Tracy retaliated with a strange, unattractive, high-pitched screeching sound.

Felicity, confused and unable to respond to him, asked Tracy, "What?"

"I win," he declared quietly as he gave her a pat on the head and left to join Sora, Riku, Pacha, and Kuzco.

Riku looked between Felicity, fuming with childish anger, and Tracy, shaking his head with a victorious smirk. "I guess she didn't take it well," Riku determined.

"I have to agree," admitted Tracy.

"I hate to interrupt this simply intriguing line of conversation," the talking llama interjected, "but _my palace_ is waiting!"

Sora's eyes glared at Kuzco strangely. "So, the old woman you told us about can change you back into a human, Kuzco?"

"Even though she's the one who turned you into a llama in the first place," Riku added.

"Knowing her," explained the transformed ruler, "she's probably sitting snugly on _my_ throne right now. You guy'll just take me back to the palace, and I'll kick her off myself."

Tracy walked past the crowd, his eyes gazing along the road to Kuzco's palace, the road to danger. "Nice plan, Your Highness," he commented, "We'll do our best to make sure you get there in one piece." He turned quickly, locking eyes with Felicity. "You'll stay here with Pacha's family," he told her for the last time. "We'll be back ASAP."

She frowned at him, her eyes focusing on him with great irritation. "You'd better!"

With that fond farewell, the three teenage boys and Kuzco followed Pacha as he lead them out of the village, giving the quaint little place no second looks behind them as their journey began.

—————

"So, lemme get this straight," Riku sorted out aloud with Kuzco and Tracy as they strolled along the forest road, "This Yzma woman tried ruling the country behind your back, so you fired her. After that, she accidentally turned you into a llama when she tried to kill you. Then, the Heartless appeared under Yzma's control and began looking for you, so you escaped to Pacha's village. Am I right?"

"That sounds right," Kuzco nodded an affirmative. "And it looks like she's spread a tiny, _little_ lie about me being _dead_ to make the people follow her. Man, is _she_ gonna get it when I get back!" The llama elevated himself, standing briefly on his hind legs as he punched into the air in front of him with his front legs. "Bam! Pow! Wack! I'll make her wish she'd never seen a llama before!"

"So, the Heartless follow her?" Sora inquired. "We should be careful. She probably has all kinds of tricks up her sleeve."

"She's just an old woman," Riku sent back at Sora, "What can she do?"

"She turned Kuzco here into a llama," Pacha offered, "Who knows what else she's got in her bag."

Tracy paused in his steps on the drop of a dime when leaves rustled behind him. His head jerked around briskly as he readied his stick, but when nothing came forward from the brush of the forest, his attention only grew more intense.

"Guys," he whispered, "We're being followed."

Riku gave Tracy a quizzical expression, and he told the teen, "It's Felicity. She's been tailing us since we left."

"Dammit!" the girl's voice came from the bush, "How'd you know that?"

Tracy, embarrassed that he hasn't seen it sooner, mumbled to himself, "I knew that."

The teenage girl stepped out of the bushes, brushing herself off as she shot an evil look at Tracy. "That's what you get for leaving me behind!" she yelled as she kicked him weakly in the leg.

"Felicity," he spoke softly as they continued along the path, "Don't blame me when you get into trouble, because I'll only say, 'I told you so'!"

The large group traveled in relative silence as Pacha led the way through the land that was so familiar to him. _I guess we're getting close,_ Tracy determined, _I wonder what we'll find there when we arrive. Let's see... Find Yzma, get the antidote to change Kuzco back into a human, defeat Yzma, find the Keyhole and seal it before the Heartless get to it — seems like an ordinary day for Sora and company, doesn't it? Of course, things are never that simple, right?_

—————

The town surrounding the grand palace of Kuzco was a welcome sight at first. When Sora and the others, however, came closer, whatever dark force was at work behind the scenes made itself devastatingly apparent in this particular part of Kuzco's world. The buildings had been literally torn apart, wreckage and debris from the city's once-glorious structures were scattered about the streets as the six travelers of the road set foot into it. Even though the sky was shining with a brilliant blue and white, it was dark and dreary on the ground. There was no sign of any survivors of whatever brutal massacre had taken place before their arrival, which only made the sight even more horrifying. Despite his best efforts to hold his thoughts and questions back, Tracy couldn't restrain it any further.

_What's the worse fate,_ he asked himself, _being turned into a Heartless or death? Can becoming a Heartless truly be considered life?_ His eyes closed sadly, lamenting the needless end to so many innocents.

Kuzco was the first of them to talk. "Yzma... did this?" he asked, shocked at the sadistic display.

"She probably didn't have any control over this, Emperor," Riku told His Highness, "The Heartless feed off of the hearts of their victims. Since this is the nearest city to the palace, this must've been nothing more than the local Heartless diner to them. Even they need to feed." He paused as he realized the unintended dark tone of the words coming from his lips. "I-I'm sorry, Kuzco," the youth apologized quickly, "That probably wasn't the best thing to say at—"

The regretful teen was cut off abruptly when a blast of fire was launched from an uncertain location, hitting him directly in the back and sending him flying forward into a pile of rubble remaining from a charred building. Kuzco, Sora, and Tracy simultaneously directed their attention to a Heartless llama, newly materialized and ready for battle. An instant later, to Tracy's expectations, the llama was no longer alone as four others appeared alongside it, letting out a viciously loud cry as they charged at the fighters boldly with as little regard for their own safety as any other Heartless. Kuzco countered their attacks with his own, slamming his hard head against those of the black creatures in true llama fighting style, yelling out various insulting remarks as he kicked against them.

_Nice job, Your Highness,_ Tracy commended silently, turning his attention to more pressing needs. Even as the Heartless llamas boldly fought against Kuzco, more of their kind, supplemented with a familiar array of Soldiers and Wizards. Tracy's quick glances around the vicinity indicated a startling fact that Tracy had no wish to face.

They were surrounded.

"Llamas and Soldiers and Wizards," Starlight counted, "Oh, my." He shrugged to no one in particular as he leapt into the action, rushing at the enemy lines with his staff brought into the attack with full force. Using the wisdom that he had used back when his life _wasn't_ at risk, the young gamer set his offensive sights on the Wizards, releasing powerful chain attacks against them one at a time. Despite his efforts, though, the other Heartless soon surrounded the teenager, and those who weren't dissuaded by repeated hits with his stick succeeded in landing their teeth, hands, hoofs, or whatever onto the boy's sides. Fortunately for him, the pain was, as always when in battle, a secondary ailment. In almost total ignorance of his physical limitations, Tracy pressed onward, taking down Heartless after Heartless until, though his own fault, he was against one of the last strong and standing walls that the city had left.

_Well,_ he analyzed, _this is _not_ good._

With Pacha, Kuzco, and Sora too far away to assist and Riku and Felicity nowhere in sight, Tracy Starlight was forced into an entirely defensive strategy. Using his weapon to shove the enemies away from him with his not-so-powerful arms, he found his efforts, though desperate, to be ineffective.

Hope, it seemed, was on his side, though. From a nearby pile of rubble, a blast of bright energy emanated, encompassing Tracy in an wind of healing light. At the same time, a familiar figure with long, silvery locks of hair leapt from behind the wall, his strong Keyblade swinging wildly as it leveled the playing field, taking down several of the Heartless foes before the others leapt away from Riku, preserving themselves to fight again mere seconds later.

Tracy stepped forth to meet his punctual hero. "I was right," he kidded quickly, "You _do_ swing a mean Keyblade!"

"Party's just getting started!" Riku retorted as the couple stood back-to-back, the Heartless recovering from the surprise of Riku's ambush as even more appeared to replace those that has fallen under the Lockheart.

Another voice, a girl's voice, joined them in the chaos. "Shell! Protect!"

Immediately, two magical shields of protection, blue and pink, surrounded both Tracy and Riku. Tracy laughed at the sudden advantage, a handy gift from an unseen but truly appreciated Felicity. _Maybe it _was_ a mistake to leave her,_ he admitted silently.

Riku's voice pierced through him as he yelled out in warning, "Here they come!" The mixed regiment of dark monsters started a rush that died stillborn; all of them stopped themselves, as if heeding an unheard command. Tracy could feel Riku's head tilt in confusion, and Tracy's eyebrows raised in a similar expression of surprise. "What the...?" both boys said at the same moment.

"Unless you'd like to continue this little game," an old voice, worn by age and darkness, spoke to the slightly dazed fighters, "you'll surrender at once!"

Tracy kept himself from looking around for the woman with the familiar voice, staying focused on the threat of the Heartless standing at ease in front of him. _Odds are that's Yzma,_ thought Tracy Starlight.

"Yzma!" Tracy was proven correct as he heard Kuzco yell at her, "You've got a lotta nerve to—"

"Ah, my _dear_ Emperor Kuzco!" the woman greeted with obvious disrespect, "I'm so glad to see you're alive, and you're looking quite handsome, too!"

The irate llama shot back, "Only you'd think so! And you must be getting senile if you think we're going to _surrender_!"

"Fine!" huffed Yzma, giving up faster than Tracy would've expected from a villain such as she was, "Have it _your_ way!" There was a short breath before the old woman's voice burst forth, "Take this!"

After the warning was given, there was a loud banging noise, and the ground shook under the pressure of an explosion. The shockwave sent a strange, salmon-tinted gas in every direction, bathing the entire battlefield in a haze of low visibility as it spread. The instant the pink vapor reached Tracy and Riku, the pair immediately began to cough seriously, the alien substance entering them as they breathed.

"Not," Riku yelled through the coughing, "good!"

Riku's newest friend retorted, equally labored, "You... think?"

Then the darkness came.


	15. Chapter XV: Incarceration

**_Author's Notes:_** In case some of you didn't know, I do not own Magus. Squaresoft does.

Major senseless humor at the end of the chapter. Blame me or Disney, whichever you prefer.

* * *

**Chapter XV: Incarceration**

Alone, hands clamped and restrained to the stone wall, behind bars locked with simple latches, guarded by lifelessly silent Soldiers — in all his journeys, Sora was surprised by the fact that this was the second time that he'd ever been held captive. Unlike the hold on Captain Hook's ship, however, his current situation held a sense of hopelessness. Despite that, Sora saw the good in the dark setting; he still had his heart. He was still alive, and life meant opportunity to act. The only reason that the Heartless would let him keep his heart would be because they, or someone above them like Yzma, needed him alive. For what purpose that was, Sora was left to speculate.

"You are the one called Sora," a stranger's calm voice stated, coming from the entrance to the holding room. A brief second later, a tall man with dreadfully pallid skin, fiery crimson eyes, long, light-blue hair, and a flowing dark azure cloak made a plain entrance. "I must say that I didn't believe that Yzma had what it took to capture you and your friends."

At the mention of his friends, Sora struggled in vain against his wrist restraints, demanding of the stranger, "Where are my friends?"

"Safe," was the only answer he gave Sora, afterwards introducing himself, "I am Magus, and I believe that you and I have a common enemy."

A questioning silence from Sora told Magus to continue.

"The darkness," he revealed.

"Darkness?" scoffed a disbelieving Sora.

"Yes," his captor pressed on, "the darkness, and with the help of the Keyblade, you and I could conquer the greatest darkness!"

"But... aren't you...?" Sora trailed off doubtfully. Though Magus was offering Sora a way to defeat the darkness, the sorcerer didn't strike Sora as a "good guy". Finally, the Keyblade master asked, "You're sided with the Heartless, so who would _you_ want to—"

"It's a marriage of convenience," explained Magus, "They can help me, so I enlisted their aid. Now, Sora, I ask of you to join me. Come with me to the lost stronghold of lightlessness, the fortress of Xanadont, and open the door hidden in the darkness!"

_Door hidden in the darkness?_ Sora connected mentally, recalling the words of the enigmatic voice of his dreams, _Could it be the door to the light? If it is, then..._

"What is your answer, Keyblade master?" questioned the man in front of the prisoner's cell.

"I can't do it alone," Sora spoke with swift certainty in his tone, "I'll need my friends — Riku, Tracy, Felicity."

Magus clearly didn't expect that certain reply, and he remained silent, examining Sora's features closely. He pondered over the request momentarily. "But... You're the Keyblade master, are you not? Why would someone in _your_ position need any help in opening a door?"

"Riku has a Keyblade, too," Sora said back to Magus, "Why not ask him, too?"

"Yours is the Keyblade of the worlds," he remarked, "His is the Keyblade of hearts. Yours is the one that I — that _we_ — need."

Sora's eyes stared into Magus's, mustering as much of a challenging stature as he could in his position. "Unless my friends are with me, I'm not locking or unlocking _any_ door for you, Magus!"

Magus stopped himself as he thought once again before telling Sora, "You may have the other two boys, but the girl is under Yzma's care." His next words were filled with subtle guile. "I'm afraid that there's nothing that I can do about her. Yzma's quite intrigued with her, it seems." Seeing the expression of concern and distrust cross Sora's countenance, Magus determined, "It must be a tough choice, so I'll leave you to think about it."

The dark master of Heartless turned away from the prison cell mercilessly as he stepped to the door and made his exit. From outside, though, Magus's voice reached to Sora's ears cold-heartedly, "Please, don't rush the decision too quickly. Take your precious time about it. You're not going _anywhere_."

—————

"This is bad," Tracy uttered in complaint as he paced through his prison cell, "Quite bad."

"But at least we're alive," Riku reasoned from the cell beside Tracy's, "and at least you can sit down." The captive Keyblade holder looked down at the steel clamp that held his wrists locked to the wall opposite his cell's door.

Tracy silently agreed with Riku as he sat down in the corner closest to Riku, kept from the other teenager by metal cage bars. Once more, the question of the better fate, death or life as a Heartless, crossed Starlight's mind. Given their location, he risked to guess that they would face one of the two in the near future.

"They need us for something," Riku told his prison pal, "That's the only reason we're here and alive."

Tracy looked up at Riku's handsome eyes, worried that he might be wrong. "You sound sure," he countered, "Do you know something that I don't?"

Riku stated plainly, "I know darkness."

That answer wasn't what Tracy had been expecting from him. Deciding to change to a more comfortable and important topic, Starlight queried, "Where's Sora?"

"Hard to say," answered the other captive, "I haven't seen him. I haven't seen Kuzco, Pacha, or Felicity, either."

"Well, then," suggested Tracy unwaveringly, "we should find them."

"And how do we do that from here?"

The confident Tracy thought on it, giving their surroundings a serious scan. The room was rectangular with stone walls, obviously within Kuzco's palace, and the metal bars split the chamber in half, running from short wall to short wall. On Tracy's side of the room, another line of bars split the area into two equal cells for Riku and himself. Outside the cells, the doors to both were guarded by a pair of Heartless Soldiers each, and another couple stood on either side of the exit in the corner to Starlight's left, the farthest corner from him. In the corner on the boy's right, his wooden weapon rested against the wall. The doors on the cells were kept locked by a small series of latches. The only things keeping Tracy from unlocking the holding cell from within were the Heartless.

"If we could get rid of the Heartless, or just distract them, I could unlock my cell," Tracy briefed Riku on his thoughts. "Any ideas?"

"Not really," Riku began, "If I could only use my Keyblade..."

With Riku's words, a plan came to Tracy Starlight. "The Keyblade! Where is it?"

"I could call it," said Riku negatively, "but there's the issue of..." He forced his arms against his restraints. "I couldn't do a thing with—"

"Maybe you won't have to!" the other kid smirked knowingly, "Call it!"

Tracy received a glare as he rose to his feet. Giving the boy a quick, "Whatever," the Keyblade master opened his right hand, and instantaneously, the dark Keyblade of hearts came into existence. As Riku's fingers curled around the handle, he questioningly inquired, "Now what?"

Starlight's eyes briskly glanced at the Heartless guards, who made no move to react to the appearance of the Lockheart. "So far, so good," reported Tracy. "Now, drop it, but try to get it within my reach."

Understanding came to Riku in a flash. "You think it'll stay in your hands? Won't it just come right back to me?"

"It's possible," admitted the other prisoner, "but we won't know until we try." Tracy paused briefly. "Remind me to tell you about my theories."

Riku looked around the room with a light-hearted smile on his face. "Is there a theory behind this?"

The unrestrained teen looked around before telling Riku, "Somewhat. You see, if the Keyblade can choose its holder, than there must be some kind of consciousness behind it, however primitive or advanced it may be." He chuckled at himself, "I'm really just hoping the mind behind your Keyblade isn't as picky as the mind behind Sora's. This is my experiment."

"You picked a fine time to 'experiment'," observed Riku.

"Thank you, now throw me the Keyblade!"

Without further delay on the parts of either teenager, Riku looked at the ground for a few seconds, making mental guesses as to how far he might be able to throw it with only the power of his wrist behind the toss. Now that Tracy and Riku actually took the time to gauge the distance that Riku would need to throw the weapon, Tracy suddenly hoped that he would even be able to reach the discarded blade. Preparing, Riku touched the tip of the Keyblade to the ground, the handle leaning against his hand. So set up, he used a simple flick of his wrist to launch the Lockheart in Tracy's direction.

Fortunately for the teenage couple, it traveled an adequate distance away from Riku, and with only moderate effort, Tracy's arm slid through the bars and grabbed the handle of the Keyblade, rotating it and sliding it through the bars swiftly. "Got it!" At the sound of the two words, unluckily, the six Heartless fiends suddenly moved to action beyond the confines of the two prison cells. The Soldiers closest to Tracy's door quickly flipped the simple latches, unlocking the cell, swinging the door open, and stepping into the confined space to face their newly-armed captive.

"Tracy!" Riku called out in warning, though he needed no such signal.

"We got Heartless!" Tracy yelled out, bringing the unfamiliar blade to use against his captors. With a graceful twirl, the blade of darkness slapped against the craniums of the Heartless duo twice, knocking them both back into the bars of the cell. An instant later, he waved the Lockheart at them, blasting the Soldiers with an icy wrath. The spell seemed to be more than enough to dispatch the creatures. By this time, the four remaining opponents reached the cell and entered to do battle with the unruly prisoner.

_It works!_ Tracy said to himself in thoughts, _The Keyblade actually works!_ Wasting no more time, Tracy launched into another whirling attack, aiming lower this time and hitting the torsos of the Heartless regiment. With the Soldiers momentarily dazed, Tracy took the advantage of the cell's open door and ran past the Heartless through it, taking the fight into a wider area. It was then, on the other side of that partition, that an easy, ironic plan made itself known to Starlight. With one brisk kick, Tracy struck the cell's unclosed door, knocking it back shut. Finishing the plan, the young Tracy Starlight raised the Keyblade, aiming at the latches, and cast Blizzaga, encasing the lock in solid ice, containing his captors inside of his former cage.

As the Heartless within struggled to break the ice or the bars, Tracy could only laugh with pleasure at the simplicity of the encounter. "I didn't know the Heartless were also brainless," he poked fun at the quartet of imprisoned beings, afterwards unlocking Riku's cell by slicing into the latches with the Keyblade. The metal pieces of the lock fell uselessly to the ground, and Tracy stepped into the cell with Riku to free his companion.

"Nice job, Tracy," congratulated Riku.

"Not too bad for a first date," Tracy gave the compliment to himself, "Maybe you'll rescue me on the second one?" As he made small talk with the other fighter, Starlight raised the Keyblade and brought it down accurately upon the clamps attacked to Riku's wrists. Once both were shattered, Tracy offered the Lockheart to its rightful owner. "I believe this is yours."

Riku allowed his disbelief to enter his voice, "You used that thing pretty well for a first time. You sure you don't want it?"

Tracy could hardly believe his ears. "Me? With a Keyblade?" he asked with obvious skepticism, "No way! That's _way_ too much responsibility for me!"

"And you think I can handle it?" Riku said with equal disbelief. As the couple looked at each other curiously, Riku advised of them, "Let's find Sora and the others!"

—————

With the exception of a single lamp shining on the ceiling below onto a bed in the center of the room, the chamber was bathed in the darkness. Resting on the central bed was Yzma's latest test subject, Codename: Heartilly. Her birth name, however, was Felicity Twilight Autrin.

"It looks like she's regained consciousness," Yzma stated to herself, "We're ready to begin." The superannuated lady stepped out of the darkness, bringing herself into Felicity's view. "You, my dear, aren't exactly the most beautiful daisy in the field," she compared, "but it's not your outer looks that I'm interested."

"Thank God!" Felicity muttered, "I'm not so thrilled with yours, either."

Yzma's visage flinched angrily at the insult before she regained an almost lady-like calm in her demeanor. "I'd watch your young, my dear, for I'm the one who holds your life in her hands." From a place not visible to Felicity, the old woman obtained a gleaming dagger and approached the younger lady. She brought the dagger to Felicity's throat threateningly.

"Ooo, shiny!" Felicity gawked at the miniature blade.

Yzma glared at the foolish girl. "You have the intelligence of a custard pastry!" she shot at her.

"And you have the intelligence of a dust particle!" Felicity counter-insulted.

"You jade ingrate!"

"Quizzical, push-up bra-wearing liar!"

"Llama-spitting butcher!"

"Ornate obstetrician!"

"Laborious leprechaun!"

A high-pitched squealing noise left Felicity's mouth loudly.

"What?" asked a flustered Yzma.

"_I win!_" the young girl declared proudly, "Tracy's trick never fails!"

"Enough of this madness!" Yzma yelled out in anger and irritation at the silly girl.

"Oh, yeah!" Felicity realized, "You were saying something about life or death or something like that?"

Yzma rolled her eyes sadly. "My line was, 'I'm the one who holds your life in her hands', and then you interrupted me when you said my knife was shiny. Can we get on with the story now?"

"Maybe," shrugged Felicity.

The villainous woman snarled at her prisoner, "This is _very_ important! If we don't continue the story, then the ratings will drop, and we can't really afford to lose ratings, not when no more than a half-dozen people have made it this far!"

Felicity's eyes widened, baffled by Yzma's explanations. "Story? What are you talking about?"

"This story! _Across the Worlds_ by Erik! Someone must be reading it now, or we wouldn't—" Yzma cut herself off suddenly when she looked at the confused girl. "Oh... You're not supposed to know about that! You see, this is why you should stick to the _script_, Felicity!"

"Uhm," a voice from nowhere intervened, "listen, this is kinda getting really old really fast, like Yzma here, so why don't we just start from the beginning of the scene, okay?"

"Who are you?" both ladies asked at the same time.

"The author."

"Oh."

—————

With the exception of a single lamp shining on the ceiling below onto a bed in the center of the room, the chamber was bathed in the darkness. Resting on the central bed was Yzma's latest test subject, Codename: Heartilly. Her birth name, however, was Felicity Twilight Autrin.

"It looks like she's regained consciousness," Yzma stated to herself, "We're ready to begin." The superannuated lady stepped out of the darkness, bringing herself into Felicity's view. "You, my dear, aren't exactly the most beautiful daisy in the field," she compared, "but it's not your outer looks that I'm interested."

"Thank God!" Felicity muttered, "I'm not so thrilled with yours, either."

Yzma's visage flinched angrily at the insult before she regained an almost lady-like calm in her demeanor. "I'd watch your young, my dear, for I'm the one who holds your life in her hands." From a place not visible to Felicity, the old woman obtained a gleaming dagger and approached the younger lady. She brought the dagger to Felicity's throat threateningly.

"Okay, you old windbag!" the girl yelled at her desperately, "Hold the dagger away and tell me what the hell this is about!"

"Simple," Yzma explained to the teenage girl, "It's about your heart. Though fate hasn't been kind to you in the department of external prettiness, you've been blessed with a gorgeous, young heart!"

"And that means...?"

"That you're the perfect test subject!" the aged scientist woman answered, "With my knowledge, I'll soon be able to take the beauty and light of your heart and apply it to my own exterior and," she laughed with demented glee, "finally regain my rightful, youthful beauty! Unfortunately for you, dear," she spoke with quasi-compassion, "your heart will most likely not survive the process, but who cares about that, eh?"

As Yzma closed in on her specimen, Felicity could only say a mental prayer and hope for some kind of miracle.


	16. Chapter XVI: Meet Magus

**Author's Notes:** I must be losing my mind. I can't wait to get out of _The Emperor's New Groove_ and into something where I might be able to be a bit more sane and less — how shall I say? — restricted.

* * *

**Chapter XVI: Meet Magus**

The grand palace of Emperor Kuzco was the heart of the empire, normally buzzing with activity. Peasants and servants as well as the lords and officials under the emperor usually walked the corridors of the palace, going about their business briskly. The activities within the palace, it seemed, declined sharply after Yzma came to power. The deathly silence permeated the castle's common areas, the busiest sections of the palace. Not even the guards were present. Thankfully for the intruder, the Heartless were also absent.

Unfortunately for Pacha, his previous visits to Kuzco's palace didn't include a tour of the dungeon. Despite that obstacle, the lowly peasant traveled the halls in his attempt to find the transformed Kuzco or their new allies, meeting with no success in either endeavor. After turning a corner, Pacha found himself in a grand hallway with massive pillars along the walls. At the far end of the hall, the intruder took notice of an immense doorway, elaborately colored and decorated. Being the leader of his village, a frequenter of the palace, Pacha knew exactly what room the door led to.

Kuzco's throne room, he identified mentally. With that thought safely in mind, Pacha began his approach, maintaining as much stealth as a portly peasant could. Though he doubted that Yzma would keep prisoners in the throne room, an instinct told him to check it out, and Pacha always trusted his instincts. As he neared the doorway, a banging sound gradually came to his ears coupled with the persistent grunting of a familiar voice. It was then that Pacha finally saw the thick rope tied around the two handles of the dual doors, keeping it closed from the outside.

"Kuzco!" yelled Pacha, abandoning stealth and breaking into a quick run to the doorway.

"Pacha?" the emperor returned, "C'mon! Open the door! Let me out!"

"H-hold on!" Pacha scanned over the binding rope, locating the knot keeping the handles together and moving to untie it immediately. Once his fingers touched the rope, however, a fearful shriek penetrated the door. In addition, the sound of clanging metal could also be heard.

"Heartless!" Kuzco screamed bluntly.

Pacha's head jerked to look behind him, but no Heartless made themselves apparent. Returning to the knot, the emperor's friend yelled back, "Hold 'em off, Kuzco! I'm working on it!"

"Easy for you to say!" the metamorphosed ruler barked back, and an instant later, the reassuring noises of a llama battling his enemies emanated from the throne room. Meanwhile, Pacha hurriedly began to untie the rope, aware of his friend's predicament. The peasant kept an ear open for Kuzco, and the fighting noises from inside the chamber told Pacha that, even with his help, Kuzco would still be outnumbered then the door opened. Finally the knot was undone, and Pacha proceeded to uncurl the big rope from around the handles.

"Almost there!" Pacha reported quickly as he worked.

"Take your time! Hurry up!" Kuzco retorted between attacks.

When unwrapping each individual curl became too tiresome and slow, Pacha resolved, "Forget this!" Holding one end of the rope with both hands tightly, he pulled as hard as he could, and as the rope wound around the hand grips quickly, the two doors burst open by the force of Pacha's tug. As the unprepared commoner fell backwards, the Heartless almost literally spilled out from the newly-opened doorway in numbers that greatly shocked Pacha. The headstrong Emperor Kuzco appeared shortly afterwards, galloping after them and away from the Heartless that remained in his throne room. Coming to Pacha's side, he began deflecting enemies away from his friend, allowing the toppled Pacha to recover without being injured by the Heartless.

"Kuzco," Pacha immediately asked the llama, "where's the dungeon? I bet Sora and the others are there!"

On that line, Kuzco charged through a line of dark nemeses, Pacha following shortly behind as they made their retreat. Not so easily dissuaded, The Heartless pursued as Kuzco explained, "We should head for Yzma's lab first!"

Pacha gave the emperor a strange glare, asking him, "What for?"

"To teach that witch not to mess with my kingdom!" Kuzco declared angrily, "And to change me back into my old self!"

"But what about—"

"Those kids can take care of themselves," Kuzco reasoned as the duo rounded a corner, leading into a different hallway. "They can handle whatever comes their way, and in the meantime, we'll get the antidote!"

As selfish as Kuzco sounded, Pacha knew that there was some logic to his argument. The three boys _could_ handle the Heartless; they had proved that the night that Kuzco and Pacha first met them. Still, Pacha didn't believe it to be right to simply leave the kids alone, even if they did have the talent.

"What if we need their help?" the commoner challenged Kuzco, "Yzma has the Heartless on—"

"Yzma's just a pushover!" the llama-emperor cut Pacha off before turning another corner, "We can take her with no trouble at all!"

The pair ran onward in silence as Kuzco led the way to Yzma's secret laboratory.

—————

"No matter what world you visit," Tracy determined, looking at the dark, damp, depressing surroundings that he and Riku made their way through, "a dungeon will always be a dungeon."

Riku maintained a hush, most likely not certain how to respond to Tracy's statement.

"But still," the speaker went on, "you'd think that Kuzco's dungeon would be somewhat different. I mean, honestly..."

"Tracy," Riku spoke quietly, "does this _actually_ count as a date?"

The other youth giggled at the question and kidded Riku, "If this is _your_ idea of a date, then I think we should see other people. Personally, I always imagined my first date to be something nice and quiet, isolated, just the two of us."

This piqued Riku's interest. "How would that work?"

"Nothing too..." Tracy searched for the word, "Not too elaborate. I like things simple and clean." With a smile to the inner irony of his choice of words, he continued, looking in every door they passed by as he talked, "A simple dinner, just you and me, where we could sit, talk, and eat, and afterwards, a nice walk through a quiet part of town. We could settle down on a quiet hillside, and it would be kinda cold, but not too much, so that we could be close to each other for warmth."

"So," Riku took a guess, "the nearly-complete opposite of this."

Tracy nodded, "Yeah. Maybe one day we'll do that. I dunno how, but we will. So, what about you?"

"Huh?"

"Any first date dreams?" Tracy clarified.

Riku smirked slightly to himself, "Well, uhm..."

It happened with such swift speed that Tracy barely had time to react. At a corner ahead of the couple of chatting kids, a man stepped into their view, and to Tracy, he stepped from the pages and thoughts of fantasy and nightmares into the world of the living and breathing, the flesh and blood. In a heartbeat, Riku and Tracy came face-to-face with Magus.

For an eternity, neither party made a move. Tracy was frozen in shock as his eyes met Magus's, and his mind used the eternal silence to ponder over some of the obvious inquiries, _What's he doing here? Where did he come from? Is he friendly?_

When the wizard's mouth curled in an evil grin and his right hand raised to shoulder level to his side, Tracy knew the answer to the last question. In a moment of darkness, a deadly sickle came to the hands of the magician as he readied himself for unavoidable battle. At the same time, Riku obtained the Lockheart and Tracy's staff arose to a defensive posture.

"Friend of yours?" Riku asked Tracy Starlight seriously.

"Magus," he identified the man before them, "and I wouldn't call him a friend."

Wordlessly, Magus began the fight, flying at Tracy with unexpected speed and power. The end of the scythe's shaft jammed into Tracy's staff, but Tracy's strength wasn't enough to hold the dark magician at bay, and the staff was forced against the boy's chest. A split-second later, Tracy stumbled and fell backwards. Before the unlucky kid could even touch the ground, though, the still-airborne Magus launched a devastating kick, striking Tracy directly in the jaw. He flew into the hard rock wall head-first like a rag doll.

—————

"_Tracy!_" Riku hollered before setting his furious sights on Magus, whose feet touched down on the spot where his target had been standing seconds before. Between clenched teeth, he snarled at Magus, "You'll pay for _that_ one, buddy!" The feeling spoken, Riku attacked viciously with the black Keyblade of hearts, putting all of his power into the swing which Magus blocked proficiently with his scythe. In a rapid movement, Magus pushed the Lockheart away from him, released a hand from holding his blade, and thrust his open palm at Riku. In the blink of an eye, a cold wind emitted from the wizard, causing Riku's skin to feel like he was being shredded into with a thousand needles, though no such needles existed. The Keyblade master was pushed back by the dark breeze as he yelped out in severe pain, and he hit the wall violently. Finishing the job, Magus pointed his middle and index fingers at Riku, sending bands of darkness at his arms. The magic attack hit both of his wrists, and the bands wrapped around them and bonded themselves to the rocky wall. In a dreadful déjà vu, Riku was once again immobilized and helpless.

Magus made no further aggressive movements, and he simply stared at the silver-haired Keyblade master, shaking his head with saddened disappointment. Magus then stepped towards his captive as he silently made his weapon disappear. Glaring into Riku's cerulean eyes with eyes of sinister scarlet, he whispered, "I expected more from a Keyblade master." As the dark man pressed a long finger against Riku's stomach and ran it up the front of his torso slowly, bringing it to rest over the boy's heart, he added, "Especially one with as much darkness in there as you."

"What do _you_ know about me?" the boy growled defiantly at his enemy.

Magus close his eyes and lifted his head up, as if he had entered some kind of meditation. "You once opened you heart to the darkness," the evil one smiled, "and it is still within you, buried under the useless guise of your light." The red eyes opened, and Riku almost saw a brief glow in them before Magus said, "You could be far more than you are if you let yourself give in to the darkness."

At the mention of the idea, Riku did the single thing that he had been waiting to do ever since Magus had attacked Tracy. With a moment of preparation, the boldly obstinate Riku spit in Magus's face, grinning afterwards and telling the dark sorcerer, "I'll die first."

Magus calmly wiped the expectoration from his face with his fingers before smearing it on Riku's cheeks hatefully. "I'm afraid I have a better idea," he whispered, placing his palm against Riku's heart. "Scion of the darkness!" he began the spell, his hand and Riku's chest pulsing with dark power, "Come forth and retake the—"

A wooden rod from behind swung powerfully, hitting the wizard in the side of his head. Magus was thrust to the side away from Riku as a clearly-injured, barely-functional Tracy stepped forward and assumed his place. However, Magus soon regained his balance, but not before Tracy went into an indirect, offensive action. Pointing at Magus's feet with the rod, Tracy fired off a blast of icy rage, which encased the dark master's feet in a mass of ice that froze itself to the floor and Magus's legs. Gritting his teeth to deal with his pain, Tracy raised his staff and thrust it against the dark restraints around Riku's wrists, shattering the magic force.

"Glad to see you're alive!" the surprised Riku gladly greeted him. The formerly restrained kid tried his best to hide the truth behind the awful feeling of pain that he felt within his chest due to Magus's magic. Whatever it was, he decided that it could be saved for a later time.

"We be going!" Tracy ordered as he waved his hand down the hall, leading away from Magus.

The Keyblade master had no objections to a quick retreat, and both Tracy and Riku went into a sprint, putting as much distance between them and their would-be conqueror as humanly possible.

—————

Kuzco, soaked in water, walked into the dark room which served as the entrance to Yzma's hidden laboratory dragging an overgrown crocodile on his leg. Giving it a hard kick to the head, the llama complained, "Okay, why does she even _have_ that lever? Try the other one!"

When Kuzco assumed his place next to Pacha, the portly man pulled down the other lever, opening the secret door into the darkness of Yzma's lair. The pair then walked cautiously into the opening, wary of possible tricks and traps in wait in the darkness. It didn't take long before they spotted their quarry standing next to a table, to which was strapped the teenage girl that traveled with Sora.

"Yzma!" Kuzco shouted at her back.

"What!" she yelled back in surprise. The lady whirled around angrily, focusing on her unexpected guests. "Well, Your Highness, I hardly expected to see you in this dreary place!"

"I like root beer!" Felicity screamed out from the table. "It's tasty and peppy!"

Kuzco, Yzma, and Pacha glared at the strange girl at the same moment, utterly confused as to what prompted her declaration of love to root beer.

"What?" she asked the trio, "Do you have a _problem_ with root beer?"

"Here, drink this!" Yzma told Felicity, shoving a vial of pink liquid into her mouth.

"Tastes like... root beer!" the girl noted before passing out.

Yzma smiled innocently, stating coldly, "Now, no more distractions."

The emperor looked into the eyes of his former advisor seriously, and she returned the act with equal intensity. After about ten seconds, though, Kuzco's eyes widened as he screamed to Yzma, "Hey! What's that behind you!"

"What?" she turned to see nothing, giving Kuzco the painfully simple opening he needed.

The llama and his friend rushed towards Yzma immediately, slamming into her with a combined tackle. The old, dark woman slammed into the wall, screeching with discomfort as she traveled the distance.

"Felicity!" Pacha called out to her as he unbuckled hr restraints, "Wake up! Get up!"

"But today's a half-day," she mumbled in reply, barely conscious from whatever sedative Yzma had given to her.

"You _fools_!" the villainous female insulted as she regained her composure, "I've gone easy on you for long enough! Now, feel the wrath of the darkness!"

Kuzco held his head up confidently in the face of Yzma's threats. "Bring it on, sister!"

A loud banging noise, like a powerful footstep, rumbled the surroundings as their newest enemy came forth. "Behold, my personal pet Heartless!"

"O-on second thought," Kuzco uttered in fear of whatever force was behind the rumbling, "I think m-my low blood sugar's staring to k-kick in!"

Felicity's eyes opened barely as the teenage lady yelled out loudly, "It's a giant llama!"

The darkness that surrounded them was suddenly illuminated by bright light, revealing that Felicity's seemingly senseless outburst was correct. An overgrown, Heartless llama dominated the room, standing almost three times as high as Kuzco.

Kuzco and Pacha looked up at the beast with fear, but Felicity eyes the creature with a strange delight. "_Wow!_ That's awesome!" As she moved to stand up, though, her hand felt against another vial of pink fluid. "Hey! What's this do?" With wide-eyed wonder, she picked up the glass container and hurled it at the Heartless. With an inglorious cloud of smoke, it vanished, only to be replaced by a black penguin.

"Uhm," Yzma spoke nervously, "That's kinda... embarrasssing."

Felicity ignored the witch, focusing on the penguin. "Wow! A _penguin_! Is it edible?"


	17. Chapter XVII: Loose Ends

**_Author's Notes:_** The answer to writer's block: take whatever you can get, no matter how awful. Always remember that tomorrow's another day, and that he who never tries is finished before he begins. Pathetically, I can only promise that the future might offer something better. In other words, _no more_ Disney for me.

This story is on a prolonged hold until whatever possessed me to scribe this returns. It's annoying when the story is within your head, but the words will not come forth to novelize it. 

* * *

**Chapter XVII: Loose Ends**

Breathing heavily, effectively exhausted from their ordeal with Magus, Riku and Tracy dashed into a vacant room similar to the one they had escaped from. Both of them leaned against the wall and collapsed instantly to a sitting rest side-by-side. Tracy Starlight failed to recall if he had ever moved with such desperate speed on the power of his own two legs. As a result from their retreat, the brown-haired teen's legs were aching profusely, but that pain paled in comparison to the unprecedented headache he felt at that moment. Tracy moved his injured jaw briefly as he spit a crimson liquid from his mouth onto the floor. Not giving it a second thought, Starlight glanced to Riku at his left and asked, "Are you okay?"

Riku eyed the blood that had left his friend's mouth before the question as he retorted, "You're spitting out _blood_, and you ask if _I'm_ okay?"

Tracy managed to breathe, "It's the right thing to do. I know I'm not fine." He was still catching his breath as he told Riku, "Before I forget... Thank you."

"For what?"

Tracy suddenly became very conscious of himself, and he bit his lip for a second before he declined, "Never mind. It's silly, really."

"Silly?" asked Riku, "C'mon, thank you for what?"

"Well," Tracy hesitated, "it's just that... what you said to Magus about him paying for what he did to me... I don't remember anyone ever being so defensive of me before. I have — I _had_ back home — friends, and I know that they loved me and all, but no one ever spoke like you did. In _other_ words," he reprised, "thank you, Riku."

Riku was rendered temporarily speechless by his friend's words. Tracy could almost see Riku's mind at work on a reply, which sounded eventually, "You're welcome, but just don't put me in a position to be emotional again. You can only take so much punishment." The boy's thoughts switched gears as he spoke, and he asked with concern, "Are _you_ all right?"

Tracy sent back, "I'll live... But whether or not I'll enjoy it is another story."

"Why not use Cure magic?"

With a great deal of worry, Starlight closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the wall, revealing, "I'm spent, Riku... I probably can't even stand up and walk out of this room, much less cast magic."

"Then you rest," Riku ordered him, "We'll star and regain our strength enough to find Sora and the others."

Tracy's mouth formed a slight smirk. "You're better off than I am. You should go find Sora alone."

"And leave you alone?" Riku countered smartly, "You can't even stand, and you think you can fight off a Heartless if one of them shows up? No, I'm staying here until you can get out of this room with your own strength, and that's that!"

Knowing better than to fight the adamant will of Riku, Tracy simply acknowledged, "Yes, sir!"

With the exception of the respiration of both boys, silence filled the room, giving Tracy a moment to sort out his thoughts. _So, Magus is in this, too? He's a long way from the kingdom of Zeal. Yzma must be in league with him. Since he didn't kill us off, he must be the one who needs us, but for what?_

"Who's this Magus?" Riku broke the silence.

Tracy lifted his eyelids as his thoughts were stopped. "He's a dark wizard," he began as he sifted through what he should and shouldn't say, "If our tryst was any hint, he is definitely an enemy. He's not from this world, too, but I'm not certain where he _is_ from." The boy asked himself silently, _What's his goal? As far as I know, Magus's primary motivation was to get revenge on Lavos for sending him into his future but I doubt this Magus seeks the same thing._ That in mind, Starlight finished aloud, "Come to think about it, there's a lot I don't know for certain about him."

"Well, next time," promised Riku with almost-arrogant certainty, "he's not getting off that easily! I _still_ haven't made him pay, ya know!"

_Itching to get revenge?_ Tracy thought, _I can live with that._

When Riku's hand rested over his heart slowly, Tracy began to note the anguished facial expression he had suddenly developed. "Riku?" Tracy whispered to him, "Are you—"

"I'm fine!" Riku snapped back at Tracy harshly, his face turning from pain to aggression and back again in an instant. "I'm..." Riku said afterwards, the spontaneous severity gone from his voice, replaced with a tone of sorrow. Tracy needed only to see Riku's eyes to know that whatever anger that was within him, it wasn't intended for him. Still, there was some kind of suffering within his heart.

One solitary question crossed Tracy's mind, _What did Magus do to him?_

"I dunno what it is," Riku began reluctantly, apologetically, "but it's inside my heart. It's been there for a long time."

"The darkness," the other guessed with anxiety, "Darkness of the heart."

Riku looked into Tracy's grass-colored pupils sincerely. "Yes," he disclosed, "the darkness. I... It's still there. I try to suppress it, deny it, but Magus must've done something. Before now, it always came in the night, haunting my dreams, my nightmares..."

"Torture," Starlight gave it the name.

Riku agreed dimly, "The worst kind."

Tracy broke eye contact with Riku, looking down over his worn body as he spoke sincerely, "It linger on inside of you."

"Like cold air blown into a room through an open window," added the other teen as if the said incidence held some meaning to him, "Though it might be closed, the chill remains inside the room."

Tracy thought on his words before remarking, "Sounds about right, but the heart will always have light, so just keep your light strong."

"Tracy," Riku sighed, "whatever Magus did, it's—"

Anticipating the end of Riku's line, Tracy interrupted him, "Then let me be your light."

"My light?" an astonished Riku repeated.

Tracy's voice adopted a strength that he had never thought he had within himself as he told Riku, "Of course. I'll keep you in the light with everything I've got, and _together_, we'll beat this thing. I promise!"

—————

"Sora!" Pacha exclaimed as he and Felicity entered the cell where the Keyblade master was being held.

The boy in the cell smiled gladly at the sight of friendly individuals as he greeted, "Pacha! Felicity! Boy, am I glad to see you!" The pair unlatched the cell's door and entered briskly to release their ally as he asked them, "Where are the others? Are they safe?"

"They're fine," Felicity said to Sora, "Riku and Tracy ran unto a big bad brute while looking for you, but they're gonna be fine eventually. Kuzco's back to his normal self, and Yzma's all taken care of, so don't worry about it!"

"You took care of Yzma?" Sora said in disbelief, "_Without_ me? Now I feel left out! How did you do it?"

Felicity began to respond, but no words came from her. She then gazed to Pacha, unlocking Sora's restraints. As he realized the question, he, too, started to make a reply, but nothing came. When both of them realized something between them, both Pacha and Felicity asked one another, "How _did_ we do that?"

Sora raised a curious eyebrow at them before deciding to forget about it. Pressing onto more important matters, Sora asked them another question, "Have you found the Keyhole?"

"Not yet, Sora," the girl divulged, "Give it time."

"There!" Pacha declared as he released the final lock and freed Sora's arms.

Sora couldn't contain his enthusiastic cry, "Finally!" He circled his arms around with various stretches, having been in that position for far too long. "Well, I'll be glad to seal it and move along. I don't know about you guys, but I've had enough of this world — no offense, Pacha."

—————

Tracy sat on the floor in Kuzco's throne room with the emperor himself and Riku for company while Felicity and Pacha went to search for Sora, who was ironically enough forgotten in all the chaos. Tracy's writing items were returned to him by the portly peasant, and he made good use of them as he put some distance between himself and Riku. The other boy didn't seem to notice, though, as he was caught up in his own feelings and thoughts.

_Within Riku's heart, the darkness lies in wait. What I saw as guilt and regret within him over his acts when he sided with darkness — it seems that the darkness is tormenting him from within, haunting his nightmares with unrelenting power and intensity. His experience with Ansem left more than just mental scars; somehow, something of Ansem must be remaining on inside of Riku. It's more than clear that I don't have the knowledge to adequately analyze this phenomenon. Despite my efforts, I still understand so little about the nature of darkness; the truth is hidden somewhere beyond my senses. Still, I must help Riku. I made a sincere promise to him that we would stand together against the darkness that's threatening him. I have the bad habit of keeping my promises, but can I keep this one? He's my friend, and I have to do he best that I can. Besides, I fear that something more might be going on, not only within Riku but within my own self._

Tracy left it at that, not wishing to commit himself any further to the obvious. Instead, he placed the pencil down and relaxed his eyes, rotating his neck in a series of painful stretches, made so only because of his devastating defeat. "Maybe next time," he told himself quietly, "_I'll_ attack first."

"Or maybe you should work on your dodging," Riku suggested from his place across the room.

Tracy admitted, "That's good, too."

Before the two could engage in further conversation, though, the throne room's doors opened as Sora, Pacha, and Felicity entered. "Well, guys!" Sora announced to the pair, "I think it's about time to head out!"

Both looking between the other and Sora, Riku and Tracy rose to their feet and made their way to the Keyblade master, eager and prepared to leave the palace of Emperor Kuzco in their memories.

—————

"Yzma failed," Magus reported to his subordinate, Vincent, "but I trust that you will handle Sora and the others with more care. I need them alive."

Vincent muttered back at the sorcerer, "Except the girl, I know, I know. Don't worry about anything, Magus. _I'll_ complete the job."

Magus glared at the cowboyish man with his own brand of worry. "Your confidence is both reassuring and disturbing, my friend. Remember, we mustn't underestimate our enemies." The wizard raised a hand to the side of his face, where the insolent, rod-wielding child had struck at him earlier. "They even hurt me... A little." Magus reflected on the encounter with the two boys, whom he had learned were called Tracy and Riku. _That dark presence within Riku's heart,_ he analyzed, _will be of some use to me. I'm certain of it. We will meet again, Riku, and _I_ will finish _that_ job. As for Tracy... Well, revenge is a dish that I will soon devour with the greatest of enjoyment._

"I'm surprised that they escaped from you," Vincent commented.

Magus sent back immediately, "I let them escape, Vincent. You believe that a block of ice could stand between me and my prey?"

"Logical," the outlaw conceded the point. "I should be going back soon. They will soon be arriving, and I am looking forward to meeting this Sora kid."


End file.
